


Legacy

by VenomSpider33



Category: Marvel (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: AU, Coauthored by Batmarcus, Edited by Ghost Fire 6, F/M, combined universes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-10 08:19:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17422283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VenomSpider33/pseuds/VenomSpider33
Summary: In an AU where Marvel and DC have always been one universe, a new generation of heroes must rise up to prevent the threats facing our world. Just don't call them sidekicks.





	1. Independence Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all! Back again with a brand new story, one that's been a passion project of me and my coauthor and editor for the past several years! These characters, both original and canon, are all near and dear to our hearts, and we're excited for you all to see what we've done!  
> Francis Barton Created by myself. Nolan Stark created by Batmarcus. Carter Alenko created by Ghost Fire 6

_**Gotham City, July 4, 1200 EDT** _

It was a bright, unusually sunny day (by Gotham standards, anyway), and the people of Burton Park were going about their day and enjoying their Fourth of July. Grills were sizzling, kids were playing...and were promptly frozen by some sort of energy beam. The source of that beam? None other than Victor Fries, AKA Mister Freeze.

"Enjoying family time?" The scientist-turned-villain asked, cocking the large cold gun he carried.

"My family has other plans." Freeze fired the beam gun once again, aiming for a fleeing family...only for a small explosion to knock his gun a little to the right, causing the beam to impact and freeze the ground next to the family. Freeze looked in the direction the force had come from, seeing several small objects flying towards him. He swung his cold gun and swatted them out of the sky, but not before Freeze saw a larger object approaching out of his peripheral vision. He turned his domed head in time to see a red and black blur slam into him feet first, knocking him back and cracking his helmet.

The figure landed on the ground to reveal a young man with dark hair wearing a costume that consisted of red body armor that had a yellow R on the left side of his chest, a black cape with a yellow inside, black pants, black gloves, and a domino mask on his face. "There are better ways to help people cool off, you know." Jason Todd, the second young man to take up the name of Robin, quipped, and Freeze narrowed his eyes.

"Boy Wonder. I wondered when you were going to show up." The scientist dryly stated, and Robin smirked as he cracked his knuckles.

"What can I say, Freeze? I like to make an entrance." Robin taunted. "Now can we hurry this up? I've got somewhere to be!" Freeze just smirked, his cold gun beginning to charge up.

"Children these days, always in such a rush."

"Wasn't talking to you, Fishbowl." As soon as Robin said that, Freeze noticed that something had just blocked the sun behind him, and his eyes widened as he spun around, seeing none other than Batman himself descending towards him, the gloved fist smashing through his dome.

**Manhattan. 1205 EDT**

A man with a top half made of ice and a top half made of fire was storming down the street, shooting fire and ice at the buildings. " **I warned you all what would happen!** _All you had to do was pay me and I'd leave you alone!"_ Equinox bellowed out, firing blasts of fire and ice at approaching police cars. " _You pigs wanna get burned?_ **Then get the hell out of my way!"**

"Dude, I get Fourth of July traffic sucks, but there's no reason to get so hot and bothered about it!" A voice called out, and Equinox looked up to see a figure swinging towards him. He wore what could be best described as a jacket and pants onesie, with the jacket's main body was red and predominantly blue on the back. It had black sleeves, with attached sleeves gloves that were red at the fingers. At the center of his chest and back was a large, black, and angular spider symbol with a triangular abdomen that didn't have the pincers of the legs connected to the spider's body. His full head mask was completely red, with white eyes that seemed to narrow like a camera shutter.

Carter Alenko, or Scarlet Spider to the people of New York, fired a webline that pulled him down to Equinox, punching the villain in the jaw. He didn't immediately go down, instead firing a stream of fire at Scarlet Spider, which he backflipped away from, landed on a lamp post, and leapt back at him, landing another punch. " _Piss off, bug boy!"_ Equinox growed out, sending a series of ice spikes at Scarlet Spider. He quickly webbed a manhole cover and pulled it towards him, blocking the spikes, before tossing it at the hot/cold metahuman, knocking him towards a car.

" **Why you little-"** Equinox started to growl out, before a small, beeping red ball hit the ground next to him. " _What the-?"_ Before Equinox could ponder it any further, the ball exploded into webbing that covered Equinox and a small area, causing him to stick to the car. " _The hell is this stuff?!_ **Why can't I burn it?"**

"Cause it's thermoreactive, dingus." A new voice said, and Equinox looked up to see a man in a skin tight red and blue costume with a large white spider on the chest crouching on a lamppost. "Y'know, cools down when it gets hot, heats up when cold? As in, 'ideal to hold you?'" Peter Parker, better known as Spider-Man, explained, before he pointed to a spot right in front of Equinox. "But uh, you might have bigger things to worry about…" Equinox's eyes widened, and he looked just in time to see Scarlet Spider's fist slamming into his face, knocking him out.

"And just like that, you're out cold." Scarlet Spider quipped, and Spider-Man just sighed as he flipped off of the lamppost.

"I told you, you've gotta work on your banter. It's what trips them up!" He said as he finished webbing up Equinox.

"You didn't like the 'hot/cold' two parter?" Scarlet Spider asked, as Spider-Man finished the webbing up.

"I mean, it's fine if you're Superman or something, but my bad guys have come to expect a certain quality of quips." Spider-Man lectured, and Scarlet SPider sighed.

"Yeah yeah you're funny. Look, can we just get to the part where we leave a note or something? We gotta get going! Today's the day!"

**Star City, 9:15 PDT**

Cameron Mahkent Jr, AKA Icicle Jr, leapt into the middle of Weisinger Bridge, creating an ice ramp that caused several car to flip over. "Oh sweet, I got an SUV! Bonus points!" The teenaged supervillain cheered, only for several green and red arrows to impact his ice ramp and his ice-enforced shoulder, before detonating. When the smoke cleared, he looked up to see Green Arrow and Speedy on the bridge, aiming their arrows at him. "Finally! I was wondering how long it would take to get a little attention around here!" He created a shell of ice around his arms, and began throwing shards of ice at the two.

"Junior's doing all this for attention?!" Speedy asked, as they fired arrows at the spikes. However, they didn't get all of them, and were forced to dodge the spikes by running down the large cable of the suspension bridge. "This had better not make us late!" Speedy warned, as the archers began firing arrows at Junior. Junior threw another ice barrage at them but Speedy leapt over them, firing an arrow with a blunt head that hit Junior square in the face, knocking him out.

"Wow, kid's got a glass jaw. Guess the apple didn't fall too far from the tree." Arrow remarked as Speedy landed next to him.

"Funny. Can we go? I am NOT being late today!"

**San Francisco, 9:20 PDT**

Golden Gate Park had been enjoying a relatively peaceful, if not packed, morning. That was until Donnie Gill AKA Blizzard came along and ruined it all. He began to blast at people and the responding police officers before creating a blizzard throughout the whole park with himself at the center of it all.

"What's the matter? Didn't pack your cold gear?" He asked blasting at the police only for a large piece of metal to block it.

"Okay there's a lot to unpack there, first was that supposed to be a quip? Or were you just asking a question?" A teenage, heavily filtered voice asked, as Blizzard looked up.

He found a teen in a predominately black armor, with red on the sides of his torso. It had gold accents along the suit and a gold faceplate. It also had more Red accents along the suit. In the center of his chest was a Hexagonal arc reactor that glowed bright white as did the eyes.

"Second, if that was a quip, it was a terrible one! I mean,, at least Spider-Man's quips are occasionally funny." Nolan Stark AKA Iron Knight said dodging the blasts of ice as he flew around Blizzard, blasting more ice away with repulsor beams.

"Finally do you just enjoy ruining peoples days? Like is it fun for you?" He asked unleashing a blast that took Blizzard off his feet hard. The man rolled to his feet and tried to blast him again.

"Aw Iron Man sent his brat! He too scared to face me himself?"

"Nah he just needed a second. Wish he would speed things up though!" Iron Knight sighed.

"Hey in my defense, you try targeting the circuits that amplify his powers!" Iron Man said flying in his red and gold armor with a triangular arc reactor in the chest and unleashing a few smaller targeted blasts, hitting Blizzard's costume. Blizzard was shocked as the snow in the air vanished.

"You bastard!" He said unleashing a blast at Iron Man who unleashed a shield that reflected the blast and froze Blizzard solid.

"Looks like we put him on ice." Iron Man said.

"I could have done it faster. Also seriously? Sometimes you're worse than Spider-Man. Now can we hurry up please! Today's the Day!"

**Pearl Harbor, 06:02 HST**

The historic sight was frozen solid. On one of the ships that remained three people were battling. Aquaman dressed in his classic Orange and Green suit avoided one of Killer Frost's blasts.

Jumping down a few levels he rean at her only to be frozen from the neck down. Before he could break free a dark skinned Atlantean leap over him flipping forward and continuing the charge.

Breaking free with a smile Aquaman spoke; "You can't tell me you aren't excited." He said casually as they both avoided more of Frosts attacks.

"Right now my king, I am more focused on the matter at hand." Aqualad said jumping into the air as Frost aimed a blast at him. He blocked the hit using his water-bearers causing them to freeze into a solid block of ice on his hands.

Landing on his feet in front of her he swung upwards with the block of ice smacking Killer Frost in the face, shattering the ice and knocking her out cold all at once. As he put his water-bearers away he looked to a still smiling Aquaman.

"Well?" The man asked, and Aqualad couldn't help it as he smiled as well.

"Yes, I am excited after all today's the day." Aqualad said.

**Central City, 11:02 CDT**

Captain Cold stood outside a jewellery store a bag full of diamonds in one hand his cold gun in the other. He was surrounded by two blurs, one red and the other yellow. The Flash and his sidekick Wally West AKA Kid Flash.

Cold tried to blast them each, but he might as well have tried punching them for all the good it was doing at the moment.

"Stealing ice? Really isn't that a bit cliche? Even for Captain Cold?" Flash asked.

"Come on! We don't have time for this!" Kid Flash said frustrated as he pulled down his goggles and charged in Cold turned and managed to fire off a blast at him which he narrowly avoided only a part of his right shoulder icing over as he snatched the gun away.

Cold growled, but before he could speak Flash ran in punching him in the face and knocking him out.

"Calm down Kid." Flash said cuffing Cold.

"Oh no! You'll chat it up with cops, bystanders with cold even! No! No way! Today's the day!" He said excited.

**Boston, 12:22 EDT**

A man in a sophisticated suit of white armor, with a large cannon in place of his right arm, spun around, firing a white beam from his weapon. "Hold still, dammit!" Mark Higgins, aka Tundra, bellowed out as his beam froze the wall of the museum as he tried hitting his targets. Those targets? Hawkeye, wearing his trademark purple costume, and a young man wearing a predominately black suit with a large downwards purple arrow on his chest, with smaller purple arrow designs along his arms and legs, and a face mask with red eyes that left his blonde hair out.

"We're going to be late!" Francis Barton, aka Trickshot, warmed as he fired an arrow at Tundra, who just blasted it out of the air.

"We're not going to be late!" Hawkeye and Trickshot continued firing explosive arrows, but Tundra's armor was built to withstand the explosive arrows.

"Quit yer yammerin' and hold still so I can kill you!" Tundra began firing in bursts, but Trickshot dodged the blast and fired an arrow, hitting an exposed tube that connected Tundra's gun to his armor. The coolant sprayed everywhere, blinding Tundra enough for Hawkeye to fire a disruptor arrow that connected, causing his armor to begin to short out. Taking advantage and without exchanging a word, the father/son team rushed the villain, delivering a series of blows that staggered the villain until they delivered a strike to his head, knocking him out.

"This idiot never learns." Hawkeye remarked, nudging the ice-villains head with his foot, only for Trickshot to grab him and start dragging him out of the museum. "Hey! Easy there, kid."

"C'mon, dad! I am not being late so you can show off the boomerang arrow again!" Trickshot said, as they exited the museum and approached Hawkeye's parked sky cycle.

"Hey, don't knock the boomerang arrow-"

"-til you've tried it. Yeah, I know. Now hurry up!"

**Washington DC, 1400 EDT**

"Aaaaand first!" Scarlet Spider remarked, as he and Spider-Man each landed on a nearby lamppost.

"More like second." A voice called, and the two Spiders looked to see Robin and Batman stepping out of the shadows. "Spider-Man. Scarlet Spider." Batman flatly stated with a nod, which, in Batman language, translated to a warm welcome.

"How...how long were you standing there?" Spider-Man asked as they jumped on the ground. "Seriously, were you just waiting for us to show up?" Scarlet Spider ignored his mentor and walked up to Robin.

"Bug Boy!"

"Bird boy!" They greeted each other, exchanging a fist bump and a shoulder clap. "So, how long were you standing there?" Scarlet Spider asked his best friend.

"About ten minutes. You know how he is. Always gotta be dramatic." Robin answered, and they heard the familiar hum of jet boots as Iron Man and Iron Knight landed next to them.

"Told you we should've left earlier. But no, you just had to clean your armor." Iron Knight lecutred his father.

"Billionaire philanthropist 101: always look good." Iron Man justified, before turning to the other two mentors. "Gentleman."

"I'm sure Tony just had to dye his beard. Can't let anyone see those grey hairs." The voice of Green Arrow said as he and Speedy arrived.

"Please, Arrow. If anything, he'll just bring out a fancy new suit of armor to distract us and compare himself to 'fine wine'." Aquaman added in as he and Aqualad arrived on the scene.

"Oh come on!" Trickshot's voice cried out, and they all looked up to see Hawkeye and Trickshot descending down on the skycycle. "I told you we should've taken the Zeta Tube!"

"Geez, sorry if I wanted to take the scenic route. Spend some time with my son on the big day." Hawkeye responded, as he set down on the ground. "Sheesh, kids today…"

"Hey guys. What's up, Speedy?" Trickshot greeted, fist bumping his fellow archer as he joined the other sidekicks. "So, been a while since we've all been together. All we need now is-"

"Oh come on!" A familiar voice called out, and they all looked to see Flash and Kid Flash arriving. "I knew it! Fastest people alive, and we're still somehow the last ones here!"

"Calm down, Kid. We made it, didn't we?" Flash reassured as they walked up to others. The heroes all stood behind their sidekicks, as they all looked at the structure ahead of them.

"Today is the day." Batman said. "Welcome...to the Hall of Justice."

"Headquarters of the Justice League." Aquaman added as they all began to make their way in and people began to snap picture they could hear comments from all sides.

"Is that Batman? I've never seen him in broad daylight?"

"Look it's Iron Man and Iron Knight, wonder how much those suits run them?"

"Didn't Scarlet Spider use to have a hoodie or something?"

"Oh! It's Flash and Speedy!"

"No, Speedy is Hawkeye's Sidekick."

"No, that's Trickshot. Speedy's with Green Arrow."

"Really? Then that name makes no sense."

Roy let out a slight sigh but still seemed happy even as Iron Knight spoke up; "See, I told you that you should have picked a better name than Speedy."

"Ready to see the inner sanctum?" Green Arrow asked.

"Born that way!" Speedy said confidently.

"You know it just occurred to me, have all the sidekicks ever all been in the same place at the same time?" Robin asked, but Roy just looked at him.

"Don't call us sidekicks! Not anymore not after today." Speedy said, looking more determined than they'd ever seen him.

"Alright, sheesh calm down, drama king." Trickshot said casually.

They entered the hall and all had to pause at the sight of nine gigantic bronze status of the Justice Leagues founders: Superman, Iron Man, Batman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel (back when she still went by Miss Marvel), Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and Thor.

"Wow! That's just a little overwhelming." Kid Flash remarked.

"And just the slightest bit of an ego trip on my dads part, I bet." Iron Knight added

"Just think, someday soon, it'll be our statues up there." Trickshot remarked, as they approached a door that said 'League Members only', and the scanners activated.

" **Recognize: Batman, 02; Iron Man; 03; Flash, 08; Aquaman, 10; Green Arrow, 11; Hawkeye, 13; Spider-Man, 23; Trickshot, B-02; Iron Knight, B-03; Speedy, B-04; Aqualad, B-05; Kid Flash, B-06; Robin, B-07; Scarlet Spider, B-08."** The Computer announced, and the door opened. They stepped through it, being greeted with the sight of Martian Manhunter and Captain Marvel, her arms folded behind her back.

"Robin, Scarlet Spider, Iron Knight, Speedy, Aqualad, Trickshot, Kid Flash. You're all here because you've proved you've got what it takes." She explained, and Martian Manhunter retrieved a tray full of cards. "As full reserve members, you will have access to our gym, our fully stocked galley, and of course, our library. Trust me, Hawkwoman runs one hell of a book club." The half-Kree captain explained, and the sidekicks all grinned as they took the cards.

"Hell yeah!" Scarlet Spider remarked, and they all plopped down on chairs. Meanwhile, while Captain Marvel was giving her tour, Batman was meeting with the mentors.

"Mister Freeze, Captain Cold, Tundra, Equinox, Blizzard, Killer Frost, and Icicle Jr. All ice based villains launching attacks within twenty minutes of each other. All of them arrested with relatively little resistance." Batman explained.

"What're you thinking, Bats?" Hawkeye asked, the others all listening intently. They'd all worked with Batman enough times to know when he had a hunch.

"One is a bad joke. Two is happenstance. Three is a coincidence. But seven? There's something bigger at play here." Batman stated, and Iron Man nodded.

"I agree. Once Gill gets to the Vault, you and me should-"

"That's it?" Speedy's voice cut through the air like a knife. "After all we've done, all we've been through, and you give us some crappy plastic card and make us 'reserve' members? You mean where you jump the jokes like Living Lightning?" He angrily asked.

"Easy there, Speedy. Not everyone gets this far." Hawkeye said, and Roy gestured to the reporters and tourists snapping pictures from the observation room. "Uhhh…"

"Roy, you need to calm down." Green Arrow pleaded, stepping forward.

"What I need is some damn respect!" Speedy shot back, and turned to his fellow sidekicks. "They're treating us like kids! Worse, like...sidekicks!"

"Uh, yeah?" Scarlet Spider piped up. "I mean...I'm still trying to learn the ropes. Aren't sidekicks supposed to have a whole Luke/Yoda thing going on?"

"You're seriously playing their game? Why?! Today was supposed to be THE day! The day we started to become full fledged members of the League!"

"Well, yeah. Isn't step one a tour of the HQ?" Kid Flash asked, and Speedy scoffed.

"Please. While the Hall used to be their headquarters, it's just a glorified tourist trap now, a pitstop to catch Zeta Beams! No, I want a tour of the REAL headquarters!"

"Dude, what are you talking about?" Robin asked, and the mentor's eyes widened as Roy sneered.

"I'm talking about the League's real headquarters! An orbiting space station called the Watchtower" Speedy shouted, and the sidekick's eyes widened as the mentor's all turned to glare at Green Arrow.

"I know, but the kid was so excited! I didn't see the harm!" He explained, but Batman just folded his arms, causing him to gulp.

"Not cool, man." Spider-Man stated.

"Thank god those windows are soundproof…" Flash muttered, as Aquaman stepped forward.

"You are not helping your cause here, son." The King of Atlantis warned. "Stand down, or-"

"Or what? You'll send me to my room? I'm not your son! I'm not even his!" He shouted, glaring at Green Arrow. "I thought I was his partner, but I guess not."

"Roy, I-"

"Shove it, Oliver. I'm done being jerked around." Roy stated, removing his cap and storming to the entrance, throwing it on the ground. "If you won't take me seriously, I'll prove it on my own. As for the rest of you, well maybe they're right you aren't ready."

"Says the eighteen year old man throwing a hissy fit and storming out like an angry child!" Trickshot shouted after him Roy stopped spinning on his heel and coming back so he was right in the other archers face.

"What was that?" He challenged.

"Did you go deaf in the last few seconds? I said you say we aren't ready, but you're storming off like a kid who just got told he can't play with his toys! You want them to take you seriously, and this is how you react when you don't get your way!?"

"They talked us up, made us think that they thought we were ready! Instead, they're treating us like a bunch of kids!"

"I get that you aren't happy, the rest of us aren't exactly thrilled either, but you don't see us, pissing and moaning about it! You're older than the rest of us, and yet you seem to be the only one who doesn't realize sometimes, things don't go the way you expected them to! If you can't deal with that then maybe you need a new line of work!" Trickshot said not backing down an inch.

Roy growled in frustration and anger, and for a moment Hawkeye was ready to move convinced the older boy was going to throw a punch, but instead he backed off shaking his head.

"You just don't get it." He growled before storming off again.

As they all watched him leave the alarm went off and Superman appeared on the large screen; "Superman to Justice League there's been an explosion at project CADMUS it's on fire."

"Hmm, I've had a few suspicions about Cadmus, this might be the perfect opportunity to…" Batman began before another screen came to life and Doctor Strange appeared;

"Strange to Justice League. Wotan is using a page of the Darkhold to create a crack in the Limbo dimension, letting in demons. Requesting full League response before this gets too out of hand!"

"Superman?" Batman questioned.

"It's a small fire, local authorities have it under control." Superman said.

"Then it looks like Cadmus will have to wait another day." Iron Man sighed as Batman nodded pressing a button on the consol.

"All Leaguers rendezvous at Doctor Strange's cordance. Batman out." He said as the sidekicks all approached from behind ready to go.

"Stay put." Batman said simply.

"Excuse me?" Jason asked seeming almost offended.

"This is a League mission you all aren't trained to…" Flash began.

"Since when?" Kid Flash demanded.

"He means you aren't trained to be a part of this team." Spider-Man interjected. "Look, I get it, I really do. But I've been doing this since I was your age, and I lost track of the amount of times I got messed up because I wasn't ready. We're just trying to make sure that you don't get too ahead of yourselves."

"You guys are going to have plenty of chances to prove yourselves in the future.." Iron Man added.

"However, for now as I said stay put." Batman finished with a tone of finality in his voice.

"Sorry, but we have to go and deal with this, we can talk later." Hawkeye muttered to Trickshot before he and the others all headed out through the Zeta Tubes, Scarlet Spider just barely caught Green Arrow mutter.

"Aren't you glad you didn't bring you know who?" to Martian Manhunter.

"Indeed." He muttered back. Before he could ask, they vanished through the Zeta Tubes, leaving a room full of brooding sidekicks.

"...y'know, Roy's got a bit of a point." Iron Knight said. "I mean, how are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like sidekicks?" He asked his face plate coming up to show a teen with dark red hair, lite skin and blue eyes

"My mentor, my King…I thought he trusted me." Aqualad lamented.

"They didn't even trust us with the basics! They've got a secret headquarters floating in space, that none of us knew anything about!" Kid Flash piped up.

"They filled our heads with...with all these big hopes and dreams. And they were going to just leave us like this, for who knows how long." Robin said.

"What else aren't they telling us…" Scarlet Spider muttered, and Trickshot looked at the computer terminal.

"Yeah...hey, what was it that Supes mentioned? Something about a fire?"

"Cadmus. It's a...lab, I think. I've seen Batman researching it a few times in the cave. I dunno what it is, though." Robin answered, and Trickshot went over to the console.

"Nolan, can you like...hack this, or something?" Trickshot asked, and Knight approached the console.

"The Justice League database is one of the most secure networks on the planet. It's got cybersecurity that makes the Pentagon look like a library computer. The firewalls are practically impossible to crack." He said as he began typing on the computer. "I can't quite hack it, but…"

" **Welcome, Captain Rogers."** The computer announced.

"I know the right passwords. It's 'password1' in case you were wondering."

"I'm just amazed he knows how to put in a password at all." Trickshot said, as he began accessing Batman's investigation files, pulling up Project Cadmus's files as the others came close.

"A genetics research firm, located here in DC. Not much more here than that…" Kid Flash read.

"But if Batman's suspicious, it's gotta be for a good reason." Robin finished. "Fire broke out less than half an hour ago. Fire crews are already responding, but they could need some help."

"Seems pretty simple to me. Solve the League's case before they do, prove ourselves, and we're chilling in space with Captain America by tomorrow." Scarlet Spider suggested, and they all turned to Kaldur.

"Well?" Kid Flash asked.

"Either all of us do this, or we don't do it at all." Trickshot said, and Kaldur seemed to think on it.

"I will not lie, my friends. Part of me is wondering if our teachers do have a point. Perhaps we are truly not yet ready…" But then he looked up with determination. "But the part does not see any other option. We must prove ourselves to be ready. If not for them, then for us. Let's move."

**Project CADMUS Labs, 1420 EDT**

Sure enough, the fire was mostly under control, the firefighters doing their best to keep it under control when Kid Flash showed up. "How bad is it?" He asked.

"We've got most of the scientists out, but we can't get to the top floor!" The firefighter responded.

"Leave that to us!" Iron Knight instructed as he flew over them, circling the building and scanning it. "I've got...one, two...five scientists left on the top floor."

"On it." Scarlet Spider stated, climbing up to the top floor. He grabbed one scientist under his arm, and the other grabbed onto his neck. As he swung down, Kid Flash ran up the side of the building and grabbed one, careful to maintain velocity so he didn't become a smear on the payment. Trickshot fired a trick arrow that exploded into a trampoline, allowing the others to jump down as Robin disconnected the firehose, allowing Aqualad to use his water bearers to direct the water onto the top floor.

"Fire suppressed. I'm not reading anyone else, but the smoke could be messing with my sensors." Iron Knight called down. "You guys make sure everyone's ok. I'll do a sweep of the floor, make sure we didn't miss anyone." Aqualad nodded at him, as the teenage supergenius flew into the burned top floor. After doing a quick scan of the room to make sure the structural integrity would hold, he set down, and looked around the room.

"Anyone here?" He called out over his armor's speakers, as he began to look around these works. "These scorch marks...is that accelerant?" Knight muttered to himself, but before he could run a scan, he heard the elevator ding. He looked to see the elevator's door shutting, only getting a glimpse of something that seemed...more than human.

"Uh oh…"

Aqualad and the others were on the ground, making sure the firefighters and paramedics had everything under control, when Iron Knight called down from the window. "Guys, get up here! Pretty sure I found...well I found a something." He said sounding confused.

"Sure that's not cryptic at all." Robin sighed shooting his grapple up to the window and grabbing Kid Flash San Scarlet Spider shot a web line, Trickshot used a grapple arrow, and Aqualad borrowed the water from before to give himself a boost.

When they arrived they found Iron Knight Scanning the elevator. Computers around him were shuffling through files of their own accord.

"So where's this something?" Jason asked.

"About twenty or so floors down." Iron Knight said, and the others all exchanged a glance.

"Uh, you getting enough air in there, Stark? The building's only two floors." Wally said.

"No, it just looks like it's only two floors. This model is a high speed express elevator, something you don't need for a two story building. Meaning…" he paused, allowing Aqualad and Scarlet Spider to pull the doors open and revealing a long wide tunnel; "There's way more floors than we think." Trickshot sighed, looking down.

"Y'know, am I the only one who expected to find the doomsday weapon just lying in plain sight?" He asked.

"Since when is it ever that simple?" Robin asked, and he shrugged.

"I know, but it'd be nice."

"Just how far does that thing go down for?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"No idea. Can't find anything about it on the computers, though." Knight answered. "Makes sense. If...whoever is using this place as a front, it stands to reason that they'd want to keep any info relating to what they're really up to off of the computers."

"So what are we waiting for?" Kid Flash asked. "We came here to investigate, so let's investigate."

"Read my mind." Robin said, pulling out his grappling gun as Trickshot readied his grappling arrows. They fired them at the ceiling, and began to descend. Scarlet Spider began to descend on a webline, Iron Knight used his bootjets to descend, and Aqualad and Kid Flash grabbed the grapple wires, sliding down. And so descended, going down five, ten, over twenty floors, until Trickshot and Robin's grapple lines ran out at level 26.

"End of the line." Trickshot remarked, and looked down at the seemingly bottomless chasm below them. "Just how far does this thing go?"

"Scans are showing about 26 more." Iron Knight said. "I dunno about you guys, but I am getting way too many horror movie vibes to suggest splitting up."

"Agreed. For now, until we can more of an understanding of what is going on, we stay together." Aqualad suggested, and Iron Knight nodded as he began to hack into the door. After a minute, the door's opened, revealing a hallway. "Gentlemen, welcome to Project Cadmus.

"Whoa…" Scarlet Spider gasped out.

"How could someone make something like this without the League noticing?" Trickshot asked.

"Someone with a lot of resources." Iron Knight stated, looking around. "These walls...I'm picking up traces of organic matter. It's some sort of biotech."

"This is crazy…" Robin remarked, as Kid Flash put on his goggles.

"Give me a few so I can scope I'll be back." He said, and ran off despite Kaldur's pleas. He didn't get far, though, as he rounded the corner and was greeted with the sight of some sort of large, mutated elephant stomping towards him. "Holy-" Before one of them could crush him, a webline snagged his back, and pulled him back to the dumbstruck others.

"What-"

"The-"

"-hell?!" Trickshot, Aqualad, and Robin all asked in unison, as their jaws dropped at the sight of the mutate elephants.

"Nope, nothing strange going on here…" Iron Knight muttered out, none of them noticing as small, grey, gremlin like creature looked at them, it's horns glowing red.

Elsewhere in the facility, an older man wearing glasses with a brown ponytail was experimenting on some unknown substance only marked 'Blockbuster.' He was examining its effect on some cells.

"Doctor Desmond?" When a voice drew his attention. It belonged to a man wearing a dark blue jumpsuit with a golden helmet, golden shoulder pads, and golden wrist pads. Doctor Desmond sighed, looking away from his microscope.

"Tell me Guardian, what part of 'no interruptions' did you not understand?" Desmond lectured.

"Figured it was important. One of the G-Gnomes on sublevel-26 reports six intruders." Jim Harper, AKA Guardian, reported, and Desmond sighed.

"Did I miss a perimeter breach alert?" He asked, hid voice dripping with irritation.

"Well, no, but-"

"Then the G-Gnome was mistaken. Whatever might occur upstairs, the real Cadmus is the most secure facility in DC."

"My job to keep it that way." Guardian responded, and Desmond sighed.

"Fine, take a squad and investigate. Just don't disturb me again unless you have something." He instructed, and Guardian nodded.

"Might I recommend that Guardian leave his G-Gnome behind?" A new voice suggested, and they both looked to see a man who could only be described as a demonic goat entering the room. "There could be danger, and the Gnomes are still quite fragile."

"Doc's got a point. Little guy would only get in my way." Guardian protested.

"No. The benefits of instant telepathic communications far outweigh any other concern." Desmond stated, as the horns of the Gnome on his desk began to glow, before Guardian's Gnome began to glow as well.

"I need my G-Gnome with me at all times…" He robotically recited, before leaving the room as Desmond went back to work.

Meanwhile, the sidekicks were making their way through the facility, with Knight hacking a door. "And there...we...go." He said as the door opened, and their jaws dropped as they were greeted with the sight of a room full of some sort of mutated insects in jars, all of them seeming to generate electricity.

"I was just wondering how they managed to hide something like this." Kid Flash stated. "They generate their own power, which lets them stay off the grid."

"Whole place must be devoted to growing these things." Trickshot stated

"It even ties in to the name. In the Greek myths, Cadmus created life by sowing the earth with dragon's teeth." Aqualad remarked.

"Must have been some messed up dragon…" Scarlet Spider joked, tapping one of the jars.

"And just think, this is all on one floor. Makes you wonder what's in the rest of this place." Robin asked, as Knight went to a nearby console. He was silent for a moment, before the screen sprung to life.

"Alright, let's get some answers." He said, sorting through data. "Says here these things are called 'Genomorphs.' Catchy name."

"Whoa, am I reading this right?" Kid Flash asked, reading over his shoulder."Telepathy, superstrength, telepathy, razor claws, bioelectricity...these things are living weapons!"

"And nothing needs weapons quite like an army does." Robin grimly stated.

"The question is...an army for who? And for what purpose?" Aqualad asked, a question that seemed to drop the temperature in the room, until Iron Knight found something.

"Oh, now this is interesting." He stated. "I've got two files here, one labelled 'Project KR' and one marked 'Project XI.'"

"Any idea what those are?" Trickshot asked.

"Nope. They're triple encrypted. And, in my experience, harmless things are typically not encrypted." Knight explained. "Rob, you get it?"

"Got it." Robin sayed, a holographic display of the floor map appearing on his gauntlet, with two red dots. "Let's see, XI's here on this floor, but KR's a few levels down. If we split up, we can-"

"FREEZE!" Guardian's voice said, cutting him off mid-sentence as he entered the room, fanked by several humanoid creatures that rese. "Stop right there, and-wait, Trickshot? Robin? What are you all doing here?"

"Could ask the same of you, Guardian." Kid Flash asked.

"I'm the head of security, therefore I belong here. Unless I missed some employment paperwork, you six are all trespassing." The security chief accused. "Now, why don't you come with me, and we'll call the League. Get this all sorted out."

"Oh sure, and you can explain to them how you're growing weapons down here." Trickshot stated, and Guardian looked confused.

"Weapons? What are you…?" The horns of the G-Gnome on Guardian's shoulder began to glow, and his face scrunched up in pain.

"My head…" He groaned out, but after about a second, he looked at them, full of anger. "Take them down!" He ordered, and the G-Elves flanking him charged at them. Robin threw down a smoke bomb, and that's when the fun started.

Iron Knight immediately began firing his repulsors, hitting two of them, but another snuck up behind him. It would've jumped on his back, had it not been for Scarlet Spider firing a web line and using it to swing the G-Elf into another one. Trickshot fired his arrows while Robin threw his shurikens, while Kid Flash was doging slashes from an Elf. Aqualad had created water maces and was smashing elves as they charged at him, only to be slammed into by Guardian. He quickly recovered, dodging and countering a series of punches from Guardian, before Kid Flash slammed into him at high speed, knocking the older man back.

"There's too many of them!" The teenage speedster called out.

"No really hadn't noticed." The armored teen said sarcastically as a two compartments opened wide and dispensed flashbangs as Robin threw down smoke grenades.

"Come on let's get out of here!" Robin called out as they all scattered for the nearest door. Managing to get through they shut it.

"Okay, we need to…" Iron knight started after welding the door shut, but he stopped when he turned and saw they were surrounded by more Genomorphs.

"It's never just easy is it?" Scarlet Spider asked as they began to battle through them again.

"No, what would be the fun in that?" Trickshot asked.

As they fought the group was beginning to seperate, and this wasn't helped by the sudden unwelcome appearance of what they could only call…

"A Genomorph Basilisk!? Seriously!? Who could possibly want that!?" Kid FLash shouted as they all ran for it with the beast chasing them. As they ran or in Iron Knights case flew down the halls doing all they could to slow their pursuers.

There was a split in the hallway, Aqualad, Iron Knight, and Kid Flash went right, going back the way they had originally came, while Scarlet Spider, Robin, and Trickshot went left. Neither team was thrilled by this, but they really had no other options.

The Genomorphs were right on Team Aqualad's heels as they ran into the elevator, the door shutting just in time for them to hear the creatures scratching on the door. "Holy crap…" Kid Flash panted out.

"Is everyone alright?" Aqualad asked.

"Nothing that can't be buffed out." Iron Knight remarked.

"Kid?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Just...y'know. Still trying to process all this." The speedster stated, and that's when he noticed the floor counter on the elevator. "Wait, why are we going down?"

"Because Project KR is on sublevel 52." Iron Knight answered. "We came here to investigate, and so I'm taking us to where there's something to investigate. Robin's more than likely doing the same, taking his group to whatever Project XI is."

"This is out of control. Perhaps..." Aqualad lamented, pacing the elevator. "Perhaps we should contact the League?"

"So that whoever's running this can just pack up and run away before we get here?" Iron Knight remarked, but before the other two could respond,they arrived on Sublevel 52 and the doors opened, revealing a hallway covered in some sort of red substance.

"I uh...I don't think they can just pack this up." Kid Flash stated, looking around.

"These walls...it's some kind of biotech." Stark stated, scanning the material lining the hallway, before turning back to Kaldur and Wally. "Well, we're already here…" Aqualad just sighed.

"Very well. Be on your guard." The Atlantean instructed, and they began moving down the hallway. Eventually, they came to a fork in the hallway, with two tunnels that seemed to stretch on.

"Man, what is it with this place and split hallway…?" Iron Knight remarked, while Kid put his hands on his hips.

"Let's see, creepy hallway number one, or creepy hallway jumber two…I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting some good vibes from number two."

"We could always flip a coin?" Aqualad suggested, and Iron Knight folded his arms.

"As long as we don't split up again. The horror movie vibes here are just-"

"Hold!" A new voice called out, and they looked to see a humanoid genomorph approaching them from one of the hallways. His horns glowed red as he began levitating several nearby canisters, throwing them at the three teens.

"Looks like number one!" Kid Flash called out, and Iron Man fired his repulsors at the creature. It blocked them with a canister, but it was sufficient enough to allow them to escape down the other hallway. The Genomorph watched them flee, almost seeming to smile… before the elevator doors opened, revealing Guardian and a squad of G-Elves.

"Dubbilex, which way did they go?" Guardian asked, and Dubbilex pointed the direction the sidekicks had fled in.

"That way! Towards Project KR!"

Sure enough, in front of a large door marked "Kr", an African American woman in a lab coat was coming out of the door, when Kid Flash zoomed around the corner. "Heysorryscuseme!" He said at superspeed, zooming past her so fast it knocked her down as he ran into the room as it started to close. "Guys, come on!" He called out Before the scientist could process it, Aqualad and Iron Knight came around the corner as well, blowing past her into the Kr room just as it shut. Aqualad spun around just as it closed. "Knight!"

"On it!" Knight replied, already hacking the door so that it locked, and then disabling the controls. "There. We should be safe now."

"You mean trapped." Aqualad corrected. "They cannot get to us, but we cannot get out."

"If you want to look at it as glass half empty, yeah. I choose to see it as we're not being ripped apart by genetically altered hellmonsters." Knight replied. "KF, you got any ideas on how to-" He started to ask as they turned to Kid Flash, but they saw he was staring at something, slack jawed. "Kid? You ok?" The red haired speedster said nothing, only pointing. The other two looked to what he was pointing out, and Aqualad's jaw dropped as Iron Knight's faceplate lifted, just to be sure he was really seeing what he was seeing…

Suspended in a pog, surrounded by three G-Gnomes in tubes, sat what appeared to be a teenage boy around 26, with black hair and fair skin wearing a white full bodysuit with a large red S in a red pentagon. What struck them, however, is just who it resembled…

"Is that...Superman?" Kid Flash asked, full of shock.

"It...it can't be. He looks no older than us…" Aqualad muttered out.

"Big K, little r...that's the atomic symbol for Krypton." Kid Flash muttered out in disbelief. "Is...is he a clone, or…?"

"Knight, can you-?"

"Already hacking it." Nolan finished for Kaldur, having plugged his armor into one of the computer terminals. "Alright, I got something." He said, his faceplate shutting as it began displaying information. "Someone get Wally a prize. This is a clone, grown from Superman's genetic material."

"Who is capable of doing something like this?" Aqualad asked, as Iron Knight continued to sort through the data.

"Doesn't say. All it says is that he was force grown in...damn, sixteen weeks." Knight recited.

"The scientists here nicknamed it...him…'Superboy.' See that jumpsuit? It's not just a fashion statement. It's constantly absorbing solar radiation, and those little creatures...the G-Gnomes...they're constantly feeding him information via telepathy. But why was he created in the first place…?"

"Is it not obvious?" Aqualad asked. "He was created to be a weapon. One no doubt built to be used against Superman and the League."

"Whoa…" That was all Kid Flash could think to say. "We...we can't just leave him here."

"Agreed. Just gotta get in here a little more, and-" Before Iron Knight, could finish, the pod began to open.

"Whoa, that was fast!" Kid Flash cheered, but Knight wasn't so ecstatic.

"That...that wasn't me. I don't know how it-" Before he could finish, the horns of the G-Gnomes in the pod began to glow, and Superboy's eyes snapped open. "Whoa!"

"Easy, friend. We are not here to hurt you." Aqualad calmly stated. "I am Aqualad. This is Iron Knight, and Kid Flash. We are here to-" Before Kaldur could finish, Superboy sneered, and charged them.

Back on sublevel 26, as the others went back into the elevator, Team Robin had gone down the other direction, and the G-Basilisk went after them. "God, I hate snakes!" Trickshot yelled out, firing an explosive arrow at the serpent that exploded harmlessly against its hide. It charged at them, as Scarlet Spider leapt on top of it, firing weblines on either side of its mouth.

"Alright, big fella, why don't we just OH GOD!" Before he could finish his joke, the snake started bucking wildly, trying to get the teenage arachnid off of him. "Guys! Little help please!"

"Hide's too thick for explosives!" Trickshot called out, as Robin looked at the arrow quiver on his back.

"Got anything for the cold blooded in there?" Robin asked, and Trickshot nodded as he pressed a combination of buttons on his bow, and his quiver began shifting through trick arrowheads. Without another word, he retrieved an arrow with a glowing blue tip, nocking it and letting it loose at the Basilisk. It impacted and a small layer of ice formed, and the sudden cold caused the giant lizard to slow down, allowing Robin to throw a few exploding shuriken into it's open mouth. Once they exploded, the Basilisk collapsed, and Scarlet Spider tumbled off.

"What kind nightmare factory is this place?" He groaned out, as Trickshot and Robin helped him up.

"Hey, beats a boring old 4th of July barbecue, doesn't it?" Robin remarked, and Trickshot looked up to see genomorphs heading towards them.

"Oh for the love of...less talking, more running!" He said, firing more arrows as they began to run again. Robin pulled up his holomap, quickly reading it as they ran.

"Project XI's just around this corner! Come on!" He instructed, and they quickly ran around the corner, and Scarlet Spider spotted a door marked 'XI.'

"There it is!" Scarlet Spider said, preparing to punch down the door, when Robin held up his hand.

"Not as good as Knight or Nightwing, but I can do the basics." Robin said, beginning to hack in as Trickshot took guard, keeping his bow pointed at the hallway.

"Can't you like, execute a virus or bypass something?" Scarlet Spider asked.

"I-that's not how hacking works! Just watch the door!" The Boy Wonder instructed, and the door opened not even a minute later. "Alright, get in!" And so they did, the door shutting just as the genomorphs rounded the corner.

"Lock it lock it lock it!" Trickshot called out, and Robin hacked the door to lock. "God, I hate this place…"

"Uh, I think you're about to hate it even more…" Scarlet Spider muttered out, pointing to something, the other two's eyes widened as they processed it.

What they were looking at was a girl, probably around their age, suspended in liquid within a large glass tube marked 'X-23'. She had dark black hair, closed eyes, and was wearing a tight silver bodysuit with tubes sticking out if it, and Carter noticed an even smaller version of the monsters from before in a small glass dome just above the tank. "What the fuck is this…" Scarlet Spider mumbled.

"Is it just me, or does she somehow look…familiar." Trickshot said.

"Francis, I think you'd remember meeting someone like this." Carter said, though now that he looked closely at her , he noticed that she did in fact look familiar, though he couldn't place from where. "So..who is she?"

"I think I have an answer to that." Robin said, while Scarlet Spider and Trickshot had been staring at this strange girl, Jason had hacked a nearby computer and begun reading a file marked 'X-23.'"Found this while you two were busy gawking. A lot of it is redacted, but the parts I can read say that this is a clone of Wolverine!"

"Wolverine? I don't think so. For starters, she is not NEARLY as hairy as he is. Second, this is clearly a girl. Aren't clones supposed to be exactly identical?" Trickshot said, and Robin sighed.

" The rest of the files are all locked. If only Knight were here. His armor could crack everything on here easily." Robin sighed "We need to find a way to get her out."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Trickshot asked seriously.

"Well, we can't just leave her here! She deserves better than that." Robin said defiantly.

"Good point okay let's see if we can figure this out." He said as the three of them went to work.

**Moments Earlier Sub-Level 45**

Doctor Desmond stood in a security room scanning the monitors as at last he found what he was looking for. The sidekicks were on two seperate levels. Three still remained on Sub-Level 40 in Weapon XI's chamber.

Three more had made their way deeper into CADMUS on Sub-level 52 in Project Kr's chamber. All of them were staring at each of their respective projects and appeared to be trying to free them.

"Of all the times for Kimura to be offsite..." Desmond muttered, thinking through his options. For years, Cadmus had operated in secret just under the nose of the Justice League, but now, under his watch, a small group of sidekicks had managed to discover and infiltrate them. Fortunately, all outside communications were blocked, so Desmond didn't have to worry about the Justice League. However, it was only a matter of time before the board of directors learned of what had happened, and he couldn't help but shudder at the thought of what would happen.

And that's when he recalled an old saying, one he'd never been too fond of before: when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. He smirked, before communicating through the Genomorphs;

"Guardian, report to outside Project Kr. Dubblex, report to outside Weapon XI's chamber. Our little clones are going to handle the problem for us." He said before giving orders to each of them to wake up and incapacitate the sidekicks.

**Weapon XI, Chamber**

As the three sidekicks tried to find a way to free the girl, her vitals suddenly started to rise to waking levels, and Scarlet Spider got a familiar buzzing sensation in his head. Before he could warn the others her eyes snapped open within the pod, as the horns on the creatures above her glowed red.

As the three sidekicks inside tried to figure out a way to free the girl, the horns of the creature above her glowed, and her eyes snapped open. Two claws burst out of her hands on each side, and she stabbed them through the glass, breaking it. "Look's like someone's not a morning person." Scarlet Spider said as he prepared to fight, but Trickshot held up a hand to stop him. The girl continued to poke holes in the glass, until it finally broke

"We need to try and show her that we're here to help." Trickshot said, and turned to the girl and Robin spoke;

"Don't panic, we're here to help you." He said calmly, and the girl looked at him with her dazzling green eyes. He thought he had gotten through to her, when she charged at the three of them. He just barely managed to dodge her claws, and Scarlet Spider leap over him and pounced on her, punching her in the face and sending her flying back into the wall.

"Hey, Wolverita, calm down! We just said we're here to help you!" Scarlet Spider said, and she glared at him, jumping forward with a yell. Trickshot fired two arrows at her, but she quickly slashed those out of the air. He drew out his batons and charged her right while Scarlet Spider took her left, and Robin rushed her front.

**Project Kr**

The other three were doing, well really about as well as one could hope to against an angry young Superman which was they were not dead, but also they couldn't claim to be winning. Kid Flash tried to rush him and managed to land a few hits before Superboy caught his arm and hurled him against the wall.

The back of his head slammed into it and he was out cold. Iron Knight shot a high powered taser into Superboys stunned, him but not for long. The teen of steel yanked him forward slamming his fist into Iron knight knocking him away seizing his foot and slamming him into the ground. He tried firing his bootjet, but the clone just squeezed harder, crushing the jet

Barely conscious Iron Knight fired a repulsor blast up and into Superboys face. Aqualad lunged forward slamming his water-bearers into Superboy's chest knocking him backward this time. Knight took this chance to unleash several more blasts at Superboy.

"Please, we do not wish conflict!" Aqualad said as they were both ready to attack. Superboy ignored them and leap in again.

They managed to keep him back, but not for long. He jumped forward grabbing Knight before spinning him around and throwing him into Aqualads face. They were both knocked out cold, as Iron Knights armor went through it's protocol and locked down at his loss of consciousness.

The door to Project Kr opened and Guardian walked in looking at the downed sidekicks; "Good work project Kr. Help me get them contained." He said.

**Weapon XI**

The girl was far more skilled than any of them had been expecting. She wasted no movement. Everything was done with the purpose of winning the fight, which she was. She dodged an attack from Trickshots batons, catching one between her claws as ashe grabbed Scarlet Spiders web he had shot at her. Wrenching him forward with surprising strength she slammed the two boys heads together knocking them both out cold.

"Well, that was not how I was expecting this to go." Robin sighed flipping away from her. As he landed she aimed a kick at him. He managed to dodge but felt a stinging pain in his chest. Looking down he saw a large cut on his chest and a claw sticking out of her foot.

"Because of course you have foot claws." He sighed as she began to overwhelm him, slashing and kicking with the grace of a trained dancer.

"Come on! We were trying to help you!" He said as she slipped beneath his guard and grabbed him by the tunic. She pulled him towards her and despite himself Jason couldn't help but notice how beautiful she was, not that this revelation lasted long as she stopped him a few feet from her.

"H..Help yourself." SHe growled before knocking him out with a vicious headbutt.

Letting him drop to the ground she walked to the door and opened it bowing to Dubblex as he entered with Desmond.

"That's our girl." Desmond said proudly. "Take these three and meet Guardian on sublevel 52. We'll decide what to do with them there." X-23 nodded, tossing Robin over her shoulder, while dragging Trickshot and Scarlet Spider towards the elevator, to whatever fate awaited them.


	2. Fireworks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back! I really hope you all enjoy this! And thanks to my coauthor and editor, without whom this wouldn't be possible!

**July 5th, 0001 EDT**

 

Desmond was in his office, his G-Gnome watching from the desk as he paced back and forth. X-23 and Kr had brought the sidekicks down to a sublab on sublevel 42 after securing them several hours ago, save for Iron Knight. Some sort of failsafe had locked down the armor when he lost consciousness, electrocuting any G-Elves that tried opening it. Getting the armor open was the least of Desmond’s concern, as now, he had to brief the board of directors on what had transpired. He had to play this just right or he’ll meet the same fate as the last head of CADMUS. His predecessor’s family still didn’t know where the body was…

 

Desmond was cut off from his anxious pacing as eight screens descended from the ceiling, surrounding him in a circle as they hummed to life, before eight white outlines appeared on the screen. “ _ Doctor Desmond. You requested an audience with the Light?”  _ One of them asked in a low, gravelly voice that carried a wisdom far beyond Desmond’s years, and he nervously cleared his throat.

 

“Yes, very sorry to disturb you all at this late hour. I assure you, I would not contact you if it were not of the utmost-”

 

“ _ Get on with it, you prattling fool.”  _ Another silhouette instructed. The Head of CADMUS inhaled, composing himself.

 

“This afternoon, a small fire broke out at our above ground research facility. We still haven’t determined a cause, but nothing of value was lost. However, the incident drew some...unwanted attention. Six sidekicks: Aqualad, Robin, Trickshot, Iron Knight, Scarlet Spider, and Kid Flash, discovered our underground research facility and investigated. While in our facility, they separated, one group discovering Project Kr, the other discovering Weapon XI.” Desmond could feel the anger from certain members rising towards him, the tension caused his mouth to go dry. “However, I took advantage of the situation. I...I activated the weapons.” The silence from the LIght was deafening, until a female voice spoke.

 

“ _ And did they perform adequately?”  _

 

“T-they exceeded all expectations! Within minutes, both groups of sidekicks were defeated, and we’re currently detaining them on sublevel 52.”

 

“ _ Did they contact the League?”  _ A German accented voice questioned.

 

“No. We detected no outside transmissions, and I suspect that the League does not know they are here.” The scientist answered, and screens were silent as the Board held a discussion on a private channel. It felt like Desmond’s heart was about to leap out of his chest...before they spoke.

 

“ _ Clone them, and send the clones back to the League. They will serve as informants for The Light.”  _

 

“Of course, and what would you like me to do with the originals?” Desmond asked bowing.

 

“ _ Simple: dispose of them.”  _

 

**Sublevel 52**

 

Aqualad groaned, his eyes opened weakly, only to find that his arms and legs were bound. He looked to see he was suspended in some kind of pod, but when the Atlantean tried breaking free, he found the restraints were stronger than they appeared. “I wouldn’t bother. I already tried.” A familiar voice explained, Aqualad looked to see Scarlet Spider next to him, along with the rest of his fellow sidekicks, save for Iron Knight. 

 

“What...what happened?”

 

“Well, we got our asses handed to us by a genderbent Wolverine, and I’m guessing you guys had a similar experience with Superman Jr over there.” Trickshot asked, using what limited hand movement to gesture in front of them. Kaldur finding Superboy and X-23 watching them. 

 

“How...how long…?”

 

“Couple hours, I think.” Robin stated, still shaking off the strike the green-eyed girl delivered.

 

“Where is Knight?” 

 

“Check your right.” Kid Flash responded, pointing towards the right of them to see Iron Knight’s armor laid down. “He’s been like that ever since we got knocked out. Guess his armor locked down or something.”

 

“And these two have been staring at us for a while…honestly, they’re kinda starting to creep me out.” Scarlet Spider spoke up, lenses simulating a raised brow. “Are you guys gonna gloat or what? Cause frankly, the silent treatment is really starting to piss me off.”

 

“Hey, it’s probably best not to piss off the people who just kicked our asses.” Robin pointed out…as the clones just continued to stare.

 

Meanwhile, Desmond was approaching the Kr chamber, talking with Dr. Spence. “Prepare to withdraw the genetic material. Once you’ve done so, dispose of the originals. Worst case scenario, we have one of the G-Trolls rip the Stark brat’s armor open.” He instructed, spotting Guardian overseeing repairs on the door. “Have the G-Gnomes pull their memories, and-” Desmond’s eyes widened, as he noticed one crucial thing: Superboy’s pod was empty. “Where the hell is the Weapon?!”

 

“You mean Superboy? He brought the kids to the holding area. Same with X-23.” Guardian reported, and Desmond scowled.

 

“Where is he now?!”

 

“I had him and the girl watch over the sidekicks while we repaired the pods.”

 

“What the hell is wrong with you?! We need them in the pods now!”

 

“Calm down, doc. They’ve been cooped up in those pods for a while now. I don’t see the harm in letting them stretch their legs.” Guardian justified, only Desmond narrowed his eyes.

 

“You don’t, do you?” He growled, the G-Gnome’s horns glowed. The one on Guardian’s shoulder following in suit, causing CADMUS’ head of security face twisting into a snarl.

 

“Those animals need to be put back in their pods!”

 

Back in the holding chamber, X-23 and Superboy continued to stare at the bound sidekicks. “I dunno what those messed up demon things told you, but when people help you, you don’t typically pay them back by attacking them.” Trickshot remarked.

 

“Trickshot, enough.” Aqualad beckoned, turning to the clones. “Who are you? Why did you attack us?” He asked. For a moment, silence was the answer...before Superboy spoke.

 

“The scientists here...they called me ‘Superboy.’”

 

“Whoa, they can talk…?” Kid Flash muttered to himself as the Kryptonian clone continued.

 

“I was born...created, to replace him should he die, or stray from the Light.” He explained, Scarlet Spider’s lenses widened at the statement

 

“Ok, that’s...ominous.” He pointed out, before aiming his sights at X-23. “What about you?”

 

“My official designation here at Cadmus is Weapon XI, but my mo...my creators referred to me as X-23. I am the first successful attempt to create a clone of Weapon X.”

 

“Who, for those of you who don’t know, is what Wolverine used to go by way back when.” Trickshot explained, when something clicked for him. “Wait. Clones are supposed to be identical, right? How come you’re a...you know...girl?”

 

“I was never told why, but I overheard them saying the original genetic sample from Weapon X was damaged, to the point the Y chromosome had to be replaced with an X chromosome.” 

 

“And you were created to replace Wolverine too?” Kid Flash asked, getting an emerald glare in return.

 

“I was created to kill whoever needs killing.” Shestone , in a tone that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

 

“Is that truly what you believe what your only purpose is? To be nothing but weapons and killers?” Aqualad questioned. “Have you ever been outside? Felt the wind of a warm summer’s day, the sun on your face, smelled the ocean?”

 

“Tasted a nice, fresh slice of pizza from Leo’s?” Scarlet Spider piped up.

 

“The genomorphs supply us with any and all knowledge that we need. But...I’ve never actually experienced any of it for myself.” Superboy said, while X-23 was clenching her fists.

 

“I...I have. Everything the genomorphs tell us...it’s not the same. Not at all.”

 

“Then help us escape.” Aqualad requested, getting a look of surprise from his comrades.

 

“Kaldur, you serious?” Kid Flash asked, getting a nod.

 

“No one deserves to live like this. Free us, and we will get you out of here.” He offered, the clones seemed to consider that for a moment. Before they could answer, however, Desmond entered the room, flanked by Guardian and Dubbilex.

 

“Projects, it’s time to get back in your pods.” Guardian ordered as Desmond looked at the sidekicks.

 

“Dubbilex, pull their memories. The clones will need them.” He instructed…then noticed that X-23 and Superboy. “What are you waiting for? Get moving!”

 

“I…” X-23 started to protest, when G-Gnomes hopped onto their shoulders. Their horns glowed, and any protest from the clones died down.

 

“Hey!”

 

“Living in pods, being treated like weapons, that’s no way to live!” Trickshot called out, the scientist sighing at the boy’s naivety.  

  
“Oh do be quiet.” The scientist interjected. “They’re not real people. Everything they are was created in a petri dish. They know their place, something you will know soon enough.” 

 

“What are you-” Before Kid Flash could budge in, Desmond activated the process, electricity coursing through them, earning cries of pain from the young heroes. The clones stopped, looking back at the sidekicks.

 

“Please...help us…” Aqualad groaned out. “You... you have a choice. You don’t have to be...weapons…” Desmond just smirked. 

 

“Please. These weapons know their-”

 

* _ SNIKT!!!*  _

 

Desmond’s eyes widened at the sound, spinng around just in time to see X-23 leaping at him and slash his face, just not deep enough to kill him, all the while Superboy tossed his G-Gnome off.

 

“What…what are you waiting for?! Now!” The scientist managed to callout between his screams of agony, gripping his bloody face. Guardian was about to make his move, only the light’s on Iron Knight’s armor switched on, the Stark sitting up and blasting Guardian with a repulsor ray, knocking him back.

 

“I was waiting for you two to leave! Really didn’t wanna get bodied again!” Iron Knight stated, as Dubbilex used his telekinesis to lift several canisters into the air before sending them flying. Superboy managed to roll out of the way, ripping a control box out of the wall and tossing it at Dubbilex, knocking him out as the pods lost power, ceasing the electrocution. Robin let out a sigh of relief as he managed to finally unlock one of his cuffs .

 

“That was a close one…” He muttered out, getting the other one. “Started trying to pick those as soon as I woke up. Batman would have my head if he knew how long I took.”

 

“How’d you know I was just playing possum?” Iron Knight asked Superboy as he and X-23 began freeing the others, using super strength and claws respectively to destroy the cuffs.

 

“I could hear you breathing. Made sense that you were waiting for us to leave.” Superboy answered, as Trickshot retrieved his bow and arrows from a nearby table.

 

“You...you’ll never get out of here!” Desmond shouted. “I’ll have you all back in pods by morning!” 

 

“Maybe, but at least we won’t have an ugly ass ponytail.” Trickshot mocked, firing three arrows, accompanying Robin’s shurikens that all landed on their collected genetic materials. The head of CADMUS scowled at the explosion and the sight of the sidekicks escaping. 

 

“Activate every genomorph in Cadmus! I want their heads on my desk by morning!” He demanded, his G-Gnome delivering the message telepathically.

Meanwhile, the eight teenagers were running through the hallway. “How long were we out for?” Robin asked, getting Knight checked his internal clock.

 

“About ten hours or so. Think the League’s looking for us by now?”

 

“They’ve gotta still be dealing with that Limbo stuff. Otherwise, this’d be the first place they looked.” Kid Flash pointed out, getting a gulp from Trickshot.

 

“My parents are so gonna kill me…” 

 

“I don’t think they’re the ones you need to worry about!” Scarlet Spider corrected as several G-Trolls blocked their way. His spider sense went off, warning him to find the Genomorphs emerging from the red sacs amongst the hallway. “God, this place is like a horror movie that never ends!”

 

“Do you people ever shut up?!” X-23 shouted before they all dodged a swing of a G-Troll’s massive arms. Her claws popped out as she leapt onto its arms. The metal claws digging into it’s skin, earning a roared of pain from the genetic monstrosity. Aqualad brought out his waterbearers, creating a hammer of water, syncing his swing with Scarlet Spider that had already leapt up into the air, bringing down a powerful kick and hammer combo that sent stumbling backwards. 

 

Kid Flash, Robin, and Trickshot managed to dodge under their legs as they did their best to cause swift chaos. Iron Knight firing off  his repulsors as crover and ground control for them - as well as a major distraction. One was about to go after the armored Stark, only for the battle cry of Superboy to grab it’s attention before the teen’s fist clashed against its head.

 

It knocked the G-Troll backward, slamming it so hard into the wall that the hallway shook. Iron Knight sighed; “Look I appreciate the save there I really do, but we’re trying to escape not get buried alive!”   

 

“Shut up and let's go!” X-23 retorted in her fellow clone’s place, getting the group sprint or fly down the hallway. Reaching the elevator doors,  Aqualad ripped them open as they all stared at the elevator shaft. Robin and Trickshot used grapples, Iron Knight began to fly up, his boot jet slightly sputtering. Before leaving Robin offered X-23 his hand, she stared at it with a raised eyebrow before popping her claws again and jumping, stabbing the wall and begging to climb.  

 

“Cold shouldered.” Iron Knight muttered from above.  

 

“Shut it, Stark.” Robin groaned out, Superboy grabbed Aqualad and leap up intending to fly...only to find himself plummeting back down.  

 

Seeing this, Scarlet Spider stuck to the wall, firing a pair of weblines strong enough for them to grab onto before swinging them towards the ledge of a closed elevator door.

 

“Wait, Superman can fly. Why can’t I fly?” Superboy asked in confusion.  

 

“Who knows, we’ll have to look into that sometime when we aren’t running for our lives.” Iron Knight pointed our.  

 

“Still looks like you can still leap tall buildings in a single bound, which is pretty cool.” Kid Flash complimented in an attempt to be reassuring. 

 

“Thrilling as this conversation is, I think we need to get out of here unless you all can heal as well as I can?” X-23 nodded towards the elevator coming down at them. 

 

Nodding, Superboy punched the doors open as they all scrambled through just barely avoiding the elevator. Trickshot looked around; “Okay so we’re on sublevel fifteen. Closer, but still not ideal. Anybody happen to know how we-”   

 

“Straight ahead, til we hit the hallway splitting point then left.” Iron Knight butted in, even though he couldn’t see his friend’s face, Francis could tell something was on his mind even in the situation they were in, but he seemed sure of himself.  

 

“Okay then, let’s move.” He shrugged as Iron Knight led the way down the hall through a few twists and turns and finally stopped them at a seemingly dead end.

 

“You realize we’re trying to escape right?” Scarlet Spider asked.  

 

“Yeah, but I thought…” He froze, thinking for a moment before; “Superboy, you and I are going to blast our way up everyone else follow us.” He ordered, Superboy just frowned..

 

“No heat vision, either. I…I tried blasting Guardian back in that room, but nothing happened.” Superboy responded, Knight sighing at the statment.

 

“Alright, we’ll figure out what all you can do later. Everyone stand back.” The super genius said, firing his repulsors into the ceiling above them. As they all began to blast their way up.  

 

**CADMUS Staff**

 

The CADMUS stuff were all in the elevator, when they felt it shake.“They’re blasting their way up, but we’ll cut them off at sublevel 1.” Said Guardian.  

 

“We had better. If not, the CADMUS board of directors will have our heads, my head especially.” Desmond swallowed. He appeared to think something over, before stopping the elevator. “I need to get something from Project Blockbuster! Go, I’ll meet you at sublevel 1!” He called asthe doors slid shut.  

 

**Sublevel One**

 

Iron Knight smashed through the floor, seeing a floor marker that read ‘Sublevel 1.’ “We’re almost there!” He called out, helping the others up through the hole.

 

“I am so ready to get out of here…” Kid Flash muttered, being the last to be helped up. 

 

“After tonight I think we’re all ready to get out of here. Especially these two.” Scarlet Spider replied, Superboy and X-23 nodding in agreement.  

 

Before any more could be said the lights around them turned red, alarms roared loudly as the giant metal door sealed up. Genomorphs flooded the hall as the teens all stood back to back in the center of the hall.  

 

“Impressive attempt all of you, but this chase is over.” Guardian stated, giving a wave of his hand, the Genomorphs horns glowing red in response. The effect was almost instant, the feeling of almost being drugged forced them to collapse upon their knees.

 

Well all apart from X-23 who stood growling at Guardian with her hands clutching her head like the rest, unable to take any kind of step from the pain. Dubblex rounded the corner and suddenly his voice rang through the sidekicks thoughts. 

 

“ _ Perhaps we should allow our brother and sister to make their own decisions for the sake of all Genomorphs. _ ” He stated, the pain vanished for her and Superboy as they stared at him.  

 

“What do you mean? Why help us?” X-23 thought back to him, suspicion managing to even lace the tone of her thoughts.  

 

“X-23...you are not of this place like we are, but you are one of us nonetheless. One bred to be a weapon, but aspires to be so much more.” Dubbilex spoke.

 

“You risked everything, just to get us with these six. Why?” Superboy asked.

 

“Because in you, I see potential. Potential to break free of your purpose, and to blaze a path for all Genomorphs to a brighter tomorrow.” Dubbilex explained, releasing the sidekicks from the telepathic freeze.

 

“Oh thank god…” Trickshot groaned out, as he got to his feet and looked at Guardian. “What’s his deal? I’ve met Guardian a few times before, and he never acted anything like this.”

 

“Desmond keeps him under strict telepathic control, twisting and nudging him to suit his needs, as he does with all the staff here.” Dubbilex explained, his horns glowing again as Guardian began to move again.

 

“I...what? Robin? Trickshot? What...what’s going on?” He asked.

 

“I have eliminated the telepathic blocks that Desmond had placed on you. Your thoughts are your own once more.” The genomorph declared, Guardian groaning from the release of tension.

 

“I...remember now. Desmond...he called me about a job offer. Last thing I remember...is meeting him in his office…” The older man groaned out, his sudden ease became a sneer. “That bastard’s been controlling me for months! The things he made me do…” Guardian quickly composed himself, before looking at the sidekicks. “Go. I’ll deal with Desmond.”

 

“Oh will you now?” A familiar voice taunted, grabbing the eyes of our heroes to find Desmond walking out of the elevator, holding a beaker full of a blue substance.

 

“This ends now, you psychopath!” Guardian creied out, the declaration getting a smirk.

 

“For once, I agree, Guardian. Project Blockbuster will make sure of that.” Desmond stated with confidence before downing the vial. The change was instantaneous, his body began to convulse in pain, his muscles surging to the point where they ripped through his clothes…and the very skin over it.

 

“Oh god…” Kid Flash muttered.

 

“Anyone else getting serious Hulk flashbacks here?” Trickshot questioned, readying an arrow as Desmond continued to grow in size. His skin seemed to peel away, being replaced with a sort of dark blue hide. His eyes darkened into the color of shadows…until the creature of Blockbuster - all that remained - let out a gruesome roar.

 

“I really hate this goddamn place…” Scarlet Spider growled as Superboy was the first to rush Blockbuster, letting out a roar of his own and landed a punch. However, instead of sending him flying, the punch only staggered him. Superboy’s eyes widened as Blockbuster seemed to grin, before it backhanded him into the wall, creating a sizable dent. 

 

Before it could go after Superboy anymore, X-23 had slashed at it’s exposed arm, managing to create deep gashes among the muscle. The monster of science roared reaching for her. She pushed off it’s arm, flipping in the air, throwing in her foot claw and lash at it’s hand.

 

The moment she had landed, Guardian tried comboing by slamming his shield into the beast’s gut, firing off several punches afterwards. It let out a cry of pain, backhanding him hard against the wall. His body sliding down it and into a heep among the floor.

 

As it prepared to crush his skull, several explosive arrows and shuriken embedded themselves into it’s back, going off and into a cloud of smoke. Iron Knight and Scarlet Spider burst from each side of it slamming a fist into the monsters chest and skull respectively. 

 

It staggered enough for Superboy to tackle it again, this time slamming it into the wall. Letting out a primal scream of rage, it retaliated by hurling him through the ceiling and jumping after him.  

 

“You know, when I woke up this morning, fighting a mini blue Hulk was not on the list of things I thought would happen.” Iron Knight stated.  

 

“Well, to be fair, at least he’s only like half the size.” Trickshot corrected as they all followed the battle through the hole.  

 

“Think Desmond planned this?” Scarlet Spider asked, Aqualad frowned as he felt the whole building shake from the battle.

 

“I doubt he is planning anything anymore…”

 

Meanwhile, Superboy was doing his best to go toe to toe with Blockbuster, but the monster was fighting with a ferocity he hadn’t expected. For every time he managed to stagger the monster, the former scientist landed a punch that knocked him back several feet. Blockbuster soon landed a right hook that knocked Superboy onto the ground, soon about to slam his fists down again…

 

“Get away from him, you incredible dolt!” Kid Flash slammed into Blockbuster’s leg at superspeed, disorienting him enough to allow Scarlet Spider to slam his feet into his back, followed by Trickshot firing explosive arrows at him. Blockbuster spun around only to be met with a large repulsor blast in the face.   

 

He stumbled again as Robin launched more explosives in his face. The monstrosity tried to roar, only for a large stream of water to slam upon him. Aqualad’s tattoos glowed as he channeled electricity among the current, and for a second, it seemed to be working…

 

Before Blockbuster brought his hands together, creating a large clap that shook the whole building and knocked the sidekicks back. X-23 was the first to recover, charging at him and dodging his punch. She slid under his legs, attempting to slash out a knee, except her claws only barely broke the skin. Popped her foot claw, she jumped onto his back, causing Blockbuster to roar in pain and try to buck her off. The opening gave Superboy another chance for his blitz, delivering a booming punch to his chest.

 

“Am I the only one who feels like we’re going in circles with this guy?” Kid Flash questioned, noting the fact that the current pattern of attacks was doing seemingly nothing.

 

“Feels like we can only punch and shoot him so many times…” Trickshot muttered out, looking around the lobby they were in. “Is it just me, or do those columns look loadbearing to anyone else?” Robin’s eyes widened at the thought.

 

“You can’t possibly be suggesting-” 

 

“Yeah, I am. Got any better ideas?”  

 

Robin opened his mouth, Blockbuster’s roar cutting him off, finally bucking X-23 off and slamming Superboy through one column - causing the roof to shake.  

 

“Fine, screw it!” He let out in frustration, running towards one column to plant explosives as Trickshot, finally free of the communication jamming, began to explain the plan to those that had comms. 

 

Iron Knight, who had been about to attack Blockbuster again (for all the good it would do), instead diverted course to tell Superboy - letting Scarlet Spider swing in to introduce the creature’s face to his show.

 

The strike sent the message and did exactly what the scarlet webslinger wanted. Luring Blockbuster to column before shooting a webline up to avoid the assault - the pillar taking one for the team. Their nearby archer began to draw an X on the floor in the center of the room.  

 

“Hey big blue and ugly! Look over here!” Kid Flash taunted the still enraged monster. It rushed him…which made it run through another pillar. 

 

And so began Kid Flash’s game of cat and mouse with the monster, only for it to start to catch up. “Uh, guys? You might wanna hurry up!”   
  


“Robin, you ready?” Trickshot called out, boy wonder giving a nod. “Kid, now!” And with that, Robin and Trickshot flipped their detonators, causing the exploding arrows and shurikens stuck among the remaining pillars to explode. The ceiling gave in as Kid dashed over to them, Aqualad using his water-bearers to create a dome for them. Blockbuster cried out once more, doing a final charge just as the building collapsed…

 

For a minute, in the rubble of Project CADMUS, it appeared that the sidekicks plan to defeat the monster had killed them as well...only for the debris shift, Superboy’s hand poking throughthe slabs of concrete. He coughed as he clawed his way out of the rubble, the others quickly doing the same. Their costumes were all damaged, even Iron Knight’s armor had various cuts and dents, something they all seemed to share - save for the invulnerable Superboy and the rapidly healing X-23.

 

“We...we’re alive…” Aqualad gasped out, Trickshot panting as he pulled down his mask, revealing a sixteen year old with brown eyes.

 

“Holy crap that was intense…” He managed to make out, before he grinned. “We came, we saw, we kicked ass!”

 

“Hell yeah!” Kid Flash cheered, high fiving him - getting a wince of pain out of them. However, the sidekicks all started to laugh, making the clones exchange glances.

 

“I don’t get it. What’s so funny?” X-23 asked, simply getting a shrug from Superboy.

 

“Beats me.” He replied, and that’s when he looked up at the moon. “Is...is that what I think it is?” Getting the others to gaze at the sphere of light.

 

“Huh. Well, I know we promised we were going to show you the sun, but the moon’ll have to do for now.” Scarlet Spider poinyed, removing his mask to reveal a tan 16 year old with messy black hair - a proud grin across his lips. They were about to say something else, when they noticed something descending towards them: Superman, his cape billowing behind him. 

 

The Man of Steel touched down, flanked by Captain Marvel, Shazam, Doctor Strange, Wasp, Hawkwoman and Hawkman, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, Iron Man, Thor, and Zatara. Both Green Lanterns were behind them as well, each of them carrying green platforms that presented Batman, Captain America, Green Arrow, Black Canary, Hawkeye, Mockingbird, Black Panther, Flash,  Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Aquaman. The makeshift team had little time to be amazed by the gathering of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, instead gulping as Batman glared at them.

 

“Hey kids. Have fun?” Iron Man asked, his voice having a tone of sarcasm on it as Batman narrowed his eyes.

 

“We need to talk.” He stated, Spider-Man looked at the clones.

 

“And you two are…?” He drawed the question out. X-23 held up her hand and popped her claws, causing Wolverine’s eyes to widen, while Superboy held up the tattered portion of his body suit to show the red ‘S’ shield on it, causing everyone’s eyes to widen.

 

“Are...are those what I think they are?” Iron Man asked, his faceplate receding just to be sure he was really seeing this. 

 

“They…uh...they don’t like being called ‘it’.” Trickshot awkwardly inputted, Batman just glared at him. 

 

“Well, you don’t like being called ‘dumbass’, but I’m going to call you that anyway!” Hawkeye scolded. “What the hell were you thinking, Francis?!”

 

“I was thinking that there was something to investigate. And…there was.” The young archer gestured to the clones. 

 

“You shouldn’t have run in half cocked like that!” Mockingbird lectured her son. “You all could’ve been killed, or cloned, or god knows what! Did you have any kind of plan, or strategy, or-or anything?!”

 

“We were kinda just winging it, Mrs. B.” Nolan stated, removing his helmet.

 

“Y’know, this is exactly what I was talking about back in the Hall. You put a bunch of teenagers in spandex or kevlar or whatever, and they think they’re invincible.” Spider-Man half joked, gesturing to the rubble. “This is the exact kind of thing I wanted you guys to avoid!”

 

“Are you serious?” Scarlet Spider interjected. “Since the day we met, you’ve drilled ‘ _ With great power comes great responsibility’ _ into my head. We got what it took to checkout Cadmus, so we did.” Spider-Man was about to protest, before he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

 

“God I hate it when they make sense…”

 

“Results aside, what you all did was incredibly risky.” Aquaman stated. “Mockingbird is right. Whoever was behind all this could have executed you-”

 

“All due respect, my King, but you trained us all to be heroes, did you not?” Aqualad budged in. “If using the skills and training you have given us in this manner is a mistake, then we will gladly make it again.”

 

“But-” Flash started to say, when Superboy scowled.

 

“Look, we can go back and forth all night, but here’s what we’re trying to say: they didn’t wait for your permission to go inside because they didn’t need it. And we sure as hell don’t need to keep doing...whatever it is we do. So get on board, or stay out of our way!” He declared, challenging the Justice League seemingly himself.

 

“Uh…yea, what he said.” Kid Flash agreed, the young heroes coming to his side or nodding. The Dark Knight was about to say something else, when Captain America held up his hand.

 

“That’s enough. Anymore, and we’ll just start going in circles all night.” Captain America beckoned, and turned to the group. “Why don’t you just take it from the beginning?” The League’s co-chair asked, and the sidekicks all nodded. Their mentors all listened intently, occasionally they would chime in with questions. Every now and then Tony noticed his son appeared to be whispering to himself when not helping tell the story of their journey in CADMUS.  

 

All things considered it took them all roughly an hour to get through their recounting of the events that lead them to where they were. By the time they were done, the Lanterns had carried off Blockbuster as Damage Control arrived for cleanup. As they listened, Superboy looked to Superman who carefully looked away each time. X-23 stared at Wolverine, who didn’t look away, but inclined his head to her and mouthed “We will talk later.” 

 

Once they were done, Batman let out a breathe and gathered the League - especially mentors and/or parents for a quick discussion as they started to deal with Blockbuster. Captain Marvel noticed Superboy watching them before tapping Superman on the shoulder. 

 

He looked over, letting out his breath and approached Superboy. “Hello, Super...boy. Batman and the League...they’ll take care of you. Uh...yeah.” And with that, the Man of Steel flew off , much to Superboy’s visible disappointment. At the same time, Wolverine approached X-23.

 

“So...hey.” The mutant awkwardly greeted. “You’re my clone?”

 

“In a sense.” She responded, Wolverine scratched the back of his neck, before he sighed.

 

“Look, I’ll be upfront with ya, kid. This whole thing has got me weirded out, but I’d be lying if I said weirder things hadn’t happened to me before, I’ve been around awhile.” He stated, getting her to look up with cautious optimism.  

 

“So, I will see if I can find a place for you to go more permanently, but if ya want, you can come with me to Xavier's.” Wolverine offer, she actually smiled just a little. 

 

“I...I appreciate it, but for now, I think I will stay with them.” She gestured to the sidekicks, who were all getting checked out by their mentors.

 

“Well, I sure ain’t gonna stop you. If you’re anything like me, I know there’s no changin’ your mind.” He couldn’t help but grin at her nod. “So...you can call me Logan, if ya want. Never been one for all that ‘dad’ crap.”

 

“Alright...Logan. My...one of the scientists who created me, she...when it was just the two of us, she liked to call me...Laura.” She managed to say as Logan scratched his chin.

 

“Laura, huh...I like it.” The reply made her smile. “So...Bats has my number. If you ever wanna, y’know, talk, just reach out.”

 

“I will.” She took up a gentle yet firm handshake, the sight made Superboy unable to help but clench his fist.

 

“So…” Batman’s voice boomed out, drawing everyone’s attention. “A lot has transpired here today. We have much to discuss. In the meantime, you six will go home and rest. I suggest you take that as more than a suggestion this time.” 

 

“And we mean it this time. Trust me, you don’t wanna piss this guy off twice in one day. Not fun.” Flash remarked.

 

“And these two?” Robin asked, pointing to the clones. “They don’t exactly have any place to go.”

 

“I can take Superboy.” Wally budged in. “My parents should let him crash with us once we explain everything.”

 

“Kid, I dunno if your parents are gonna be too thrilled with that…” Flash warned, but Wally brushed it off.

 

“It’ll be fine! They let me go out with you all the time, right?” Wally justified, Flash just sighed.

 

“Not after this they won’t…” He muttered to himself. 

 

“We’ll take X-23.” Mockingbird came into the picture. “We’ve got a guest room that should be more than enough.”

 

“Wait, what?” Hawkeye asked. “Bobbi, don’t we need to talk about this first?”

 

“Clint, the girl’s got nowhere to go, and we can’t just dump her on Logan. Guy’s already been through enough of a shock today.” Mockingbird’s tone left little room for argument, getting a sigh

 

“Alright, I’ll clear the guest room when we get home.” Batman nodded, the League took their sidekicks and went their separate ways.

 

**Gotham City, 1245 EDT**

 

Jason Todd sighed as he exited his bedroom, groaning as he was still quite sore. “Rough night, Master Jason?” A british voice asked, Jason finding Alfred approaching him.

 

“Aren’t they always, Al?” 

 

“In my experience with Master Bruce, the only real difference is just HOW rough they can be.” Alfred responded, as he and Jason began to walk through the halls of Wayne Manor.

 

“So, he tell you what happened last night?” Jason asked, the Englishman nodding.

 

“I must say, you certainly have a penchant for getting yourself into trouble. Though if I recall, Master Dick used to get up to a fair amount of mischief.” Alfred remarked, the pair approaching a large grandfather clock. 

 

“So, where’s he today?” Jason asked as Alfred began moving the hands on the clock.

 

“He said something about ‘urgent League business’ and then ran off before I could even offer him lunch.” Alfred stated as the hand’s were arranged to show 10:38. The clock did a quick scan of them, before opening to reveal a staircase, where they could hear vague sounds of fighting coming from the cave. “Oh dear. It appears she’s having an early start today. Usually she waits until after our lessons to begin training.”

 

“Guess she’s just sore about missing all the fun last night.” Jason suggested as they descended down the staircase, entering the Batcave. In the middle of the cave, currently executing a series of complex moves was an Asian-American girl around Jason’s age, with short black hair in exercise clothes. “Hey, Cass!” He greeted, but Cassandra Cain didn’t even look at him as she performed a kick that would’ve surely killed a normal man that the boy wonder managed to barely block in time. “Ouch, felt that one…”

 

“Better the dummy than you.” Alfred’s dry tone singled the statement to be a joke. Cassandra was the latest addition to the ever growing ‘Batfamily,’ a skilled fighter who had come to live with them after Oracle had found her. When she arrived, she had been mute, not even responding to any of them when they tried to talk to her. Now...well, she still wasn’t the most talkative individual. But she was starting to have fluent sign language, Alfred giving daily speech lessons with her. From time to time, she would work with Batman and Robin as Batgirl, but Bruce thought it’d be for the best if they waited before introducing her to the others - save for a pair of webheads that Robin had accidentally said out to the youngest of Spiders…or so he claimed. 

 

Jason sat at the chair of the Batcomputer, he watched Cass train, wondering what the others were up to.

 

**Brooklyn, 1247 EDT**

 

Carter’s eyes snapped open, being woken by a loud knocking at his bedroom door. “Carter! Get your ass up, it’s past noon!” A male voice called, Native American-Caucasian mixed teen groaning as he sat up.

 

“Alright, alright, I’m up!” He managed , wincing at the pain from his injuries. He quickly threw his Scarlet Spider uniform into a hamper, put on a shirt and left his bedroom, taking the stairway of their home to see an older man of late twenties that had work attire - that went nicely with an NYPD badge on his belt preparing a sandwich in the kitchen. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Carter asked, detective Roland Alenko shrugged.

 

“Forgot my wallet, so decided to run back here for lunch. Besides, needed to make sure you didn’t sleep the day away - can’t let Sarah be too easy on you.” The older brother stated before glancing at the television, which was discussing clean up efforts of the CADMUS building. 

 

“I’m guessing Pete already told you told what happened, so go ahead.” Carter sat at the table, preparing for another one of brother’s.

 

“He was light on the details, just told me that you and your friends did something really stupid.” Roland replied. “Look, you know I’ve never been thrilled with this whole ‘sidekick’ thing, but I realize that you’re going to do it regardless, which is why I let you run off with Spider-Man.”

  
“Don’t need spider-sense to feel a ‘but’ coming…” the youngest of three siblings muttered, his emerald eyes looking for something else to gaze at.

 

“But the whole point of shadowing Spider-Man like you’ve been doing is so you don’t run off and fight Doctor Doom or whoever before you’re ready. You’re lucky you weren’t killed in...whatever it was in the building.”

 

“But I didn’t die, right?” The sixteen year old defended. “Look, me and Spidey had the same chat last night. On the end, it all worked out. Worst thing that happened is we starred in a B-list ‘Aliens’ rip off.” The statement got a sigh from the dirty blond haired detective.

 

“Alright, no point going in circles. Just...be careful, ok?” The detective asked, his younger brother nodding.

 

“Always.”

 

**Malibu, 8:47 PST**

 

Stark Manor was alive and active even given the general early morning that it was. However that was hardly surprising,  at least to Nolan as he yawned, waking up to the sound of his dad working on armors. 

 

Wincing slightly, he definitely had a few broken ribs according to the scan his dad had done when they got home last night.  

 

“So does he let me sleep? Of course not.” He sighed, putting an earbud into his right ear and heading down to the workshop.  

 

As he walked down the stairs, his comm came to life, he was expecting to hear his dad’s voice which is why he froze when an almost amused female voice spoke up.  

 

“You do know that sleep is good for you, right?” Sarcasm is what was laced in her tone.  

 

“You again!? How did you even get into my home’s comm systems? Do you know how guarded this is?” The young stark demanded.  

 

“Of course I do, it’s why it took me an hour as opposed to the fifteenish minutes it took my to get ahold of you in CADMUS. I was just checking in, you said last night you were pretty banged up.” She pointed out, genuinely concern at the events. 

 

“I was, and am, but I’ll get through. I usually do.” Nolan pointed out, picking up a tablet and scanning through the houses systems looking for how on Earth she was managing all this.  

 

“‘Usually’ isn’t exactly reassuring. Also...are you looking for me?” She asked, he could almost hear the slightest smirk in her voice.  

 

“Well it’s not everyday that someone manages to break through my encryption and help lead me through a secret base, then manages to talk to me in my own home. Can’t blame a guy for being curious. By the way, good job on leading us into the bathroom.”

 

“Hey, you try reading floorplans for a shady genetics facility that tecnhically shouldn’t exist. I thought it was a staircase.” The voice responded. “Still, you’d better get used to it, because I want to help, and it never hurts to have another mind on things. Afraid I can’t let you find me just yet though, I don’t think we’ve reached that level of trust.”  

 

“Can I at least get a name?” He asked, knowing she was about to hang up.  

 

“Not yet, for now just think of me as a Guardian Angel.” She introduced before disconnecting, stopping his tracker program entirely.  

 

“Great smart and cryptic...every time I meet someone like that they end up being a supervillain. Hope that’s not the case here, I need to work on this program - doesn’t respond fast enough.” He sighed, entering the workshop at last. 

 

His banged up armor slid up out of the floor alongside his dad, who was working on his armor with a rather loud drill. Nolan shook his head before he began to work on his own suit, about twenty minutes had passed before his dad spoke.  

 

“You know what you did last night was both stupid and dangerous, right? Not a good combo, kid.”

 

“I know, but to be fair you’ve done stupider and more dangerous things. Besides, we came through it mostly alright a few bangs and bruises, but good otherwise and we did some real good you know?” 

 

“Okay first, in this instance I don’t think I am a good example to follow here. Second, I agree, you did do good work, but your mother was worried sick, and so was I. Too much could have gone wrong and we would have been able to do nothing to help you.” Tony stated, setting down his drill and looking seriously to his son. 

 

“Yeah, I know and I am sorry we worried you all, but maybe Speedy had a point. If the League had taken us a little more seriously we wouldn’t have...what are you doing?” Nolan asked seeing his father's eyes widen as he scrambled into his armor.   

 

“I just realized I am late for a League meeting that Bats called. So, TLDR, I am actually very proud of you just think things through a little more the next time or trust me things can get really bad. Gotta go!” He called put, going over to their home’s Zeta Tube and vanishing.  

 

Nolan chuckled; “And I’m the irresponsible one?” As he went back to work on upgrading his armor. 

 

**Amnesty Bay, Massachussets, 1250 EDT**

 

Kaldur stood out on the edge of the pier, looking out at the ocean. “Something on your mind, Kaldur?” A voice asked, and Kaldur turned to see Arthur Curry approaching him.

 

“Lately, I miss home now more than ever.” The younger man remarked. In order to help him really understand the surface world, Arthur had Kaldur living in his childhood home, something that Kaldur welcomed. However, due to his duties with both the League and Atlantis, Aquaman was gone more often than not. “I have not seen my friends in Atlantis in over a year, and one on the surface stormed off in a fit of rage, thinking his mentor had no faith in him.”

 

“Trust me Kaldur, I know the feeling. I can feel every second that I am away from Mera and our people.” Arthur replied, looking out at the ocean. “In times like this, it helps to have someone you can confide in. Tell me, son, what is on your mind?”

 

“I...I thought you trusted me, my ki-Arthur.” When it was just the two of them, Arthur always insisted on Kaldur calling him by his human name, something that the Atlantean struggled with at times. “If Roy had not told us of the Watchtower, were you ever going to tell us the truth? How long were you planning to keep us in the dark?” He asked, and Arthur stroked his beard.

 

“That is...a good question. I must admit, this has been  the subject of much debate among us lately. Do we induct you to the League, bringing you with us to face unimaginable horrors? Or do we keep you in the dark, preserving your innocence?” Aquaman mused, and he sighed. “We thought it’d be best if we took it slow. However, perhaps we were too slow, and you all took it upon yourselves to answer it for us.”

  
“I...I am sorry if we worried you, my king. At the end of the day, I understand why you all are angry with us.” Kaldur said, and Arthur chuckled.

 

“Worried, yes. But angry? No, I don’t believe we’re truly angry at you. You simply did what you were trained to do, and you especially made me proud.” Arthur said, smiling. “I heard how you took charge in CADMUS.”

 

“It...it was nothing. I simply advised the others as needed.” Kaldur sheepishly responded, and Arthur just chuckled, putting his hand on Kaldur’s shoulder..

 

“Call it what you will. More than anything, last night proves that I made the right decision choosing you as my apprentice.”  Arthur said, when his communicator beeped. “Ah, right. Batman’s emergency meeting. I’ll see you later. And Kaldur? Good job.”

 

**Central City, 1152 CDT**

 

“Boys! Lunch is ready!” Mary West called out, walking into the living room to talk to her son, who was watching tv next to his father. “Where’s Superboy?” Mary asked, and Wally shrugged.

 

“If he does, he doesn’t know it. He said he was tired, so he decided to sleep in.” Wally replied, and his mother sighed.

 

“That poor dear...I can’t imagine what he’s been through.” Mary said. When Wally had shown up at their door last night, all beat up and accompanied by a clone of Superman...well, as much as the West parents accepted the strange life their son lead, this was a bit more than they expected. Of course, they would never turn away a soul in need, so they were glad to let Superboy stay with them until something was figured out for him.

 

“Guy lived his whole life in a pod. Guess it’s not too surprising he’s enjoying sleeping on a bed for once.” Wally responded. “I’ll go get him up.” He said, and headed upstairs to his room. Wally opened the door, expecting Superboy to be sprawled out on his bed, only to find no Superboy in sight. “Uh, Superboy?” He called out, looking around the room hoping to find him. “Ah crap…” This was bad. He had promised the League he’d look after Superboy, and barely twelve hours later, Wally had already lost him! “Oh man, I’m so screwed…” He groaned out…when he heard faint snoring coming from his closet. “No way…” He went over to his closet, opening it to reveal Superboy still dressed in his tattered solar suit, sleeping while standing up straight. “Uh, Superboy?” Wally called out, and Superboy stirred awake.

 

“Something wrong?” He yawned out, stepping out of the closet.

 

“Uh, no. It’s just...why are you in my closet?” The speedster asked, and Superboy actually looked a little embarrassed. 

  
“I uh… I didn’t really sleep well in the bed. I tried, I really did. But I just couldn’t get comfortable. Then I saw the closet, and it reminded me of my pod, so…”

 

“So it reminded you of home.” Wally concluded, and Superboy nodded. “Hey man, don’t sweat it. Can’t really expect you to just ditch the pod stuff like that. Now let’s head downstairs. My mom fixed lunch.” He said, and Superboy nodded again as they went down stairs

 

“Oh, Wally, Barry just dropped by. Well, ran by.” Rudy stated, having just come back in from getting the mail. “He couldn’t stay long...something about a meeting or something...but he said to give you this.” Rudy stated, handing his son an envelope.

 

“That man never stops running, does he?” Mary asked as Wally opened the envelope, pulling out a credit card and a note.

 

_ Get him some decent clothes -TS _

 

“Whoa…” Wally gasped out, as Rudy read the note.

 

“Well I’ll be…” The older West muttered out, and Wally looked at Superboy.

 

“Superboy, hope you’re up for the mall!”

 

**Manhattan, 1300 EST**

 

Inside the Barton family’s more-than-modest apartment, Francis and Laura, who was dressed in some regular clothes for once, were watching TV. “And you can watch...anything you want on here?” Laura asked, getting a nod.

 

“Just about, yeah.” Francis replied as Bobbi entered the room. 

 

“Hey, kids. You settling in alright, Laura?” Bobbi asked.

 

“I think so, yes.” Laura neglected to mention the sheets in the guest room she had accidentally shredded in her sleep, but Francis had reassured her that there was nothing to worry about. 

 

Francis looked at his mother, noticing that she was dressed in her costume. “What’s the big emergency?”

 

“Batman’s called a special meeting. We’d be there already if your father hadn’t lost his bow.” Bobbi responded.

 

“I didn’t lose it!” Clint called from the other room. “I could’ve sworn I put it…”

 

“Did you check the kitchen?” Francis called back, and they could hear Clint sigh before he entered the living area.

 

“Francis, I’ve been doing this since before you could walk.” Clint responded as he walked into the kitchen. “There’s no way I left it in the-” He went silent, and Francis couldn’t help but smirk.

 

“You find it?”

 

“...don’t push it, kid.” Hawkeye responded, returning with his bow in hand. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Don’t go investigating any illegal cloning facilities again.”

 

“I’ll try!” Francis called back as the two left.

 

Hawkeye and Mockingbird went down a block, heading into a seemingly abandoned laundromat. Mockingbird went over to one row of machines, hitting a red button. Instantly, a scanner appeared at the top of the machines, scanning them both. “ **Recognize: Hawkeye, 13. Mockingbird, 14.”** The computer announced, and the secret door opened to reveal a zeta tube. 

 

**Justice League Watchtower**

 

The two walked through the tube, a flash of light depositing them in a large, open room, where they saw Aquaman waiting.

 

“Took you long enough.” The king of Atlantis teased. “Clint lose his bow again?”

 

“Haha.” Hawkeye was laugh was totally (not) real. “Where’s everyone else?”

 

“They’re already in there. Just waiting for you two.”

 

“Can’t be on time to save his life…” Mockingbird remarked as they followed Aquaman’s lead into the meeting hall. Already seated around the meeting table were Spider-Man, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, and the Flash. “So it’s just the mentors, huh?”

 

“It felt like what was appropriate. I saw no need to involve everyone in this at the moment.” Batman stated, Captain America rising from his seat as Hawkeye and Mockingbird took theirs.

 

“I hereby call this meeting of the Justice League to order.” The Sentinel of Liberty declared. “We’ve called this meeting to discuss the events of Project Cadmus last night, and what to do with the sidekicks. First, is everyone all right?”

 

“As far as we can tell, just cuts and bruises. Pretty lucky, all things considered.” Flash replied.

 

“‘Lucky’ is an understatement. I’m half convinced they’re all brain damaged after they ran in half cocked like that.” Mockingbird stated. “What were they thinking running off like that?”

 

“They did what we trained them for.” Spider-Man spoke up. “With great power comes great responsibility, put others above yourself, do the right thing, yadda yadda yadda. We drill that into their heads, and we’re really surprised they jumped in without a plan?”

 

“Plus, what Speedy said really messed with them.” Iron Man remarked. “I mean, the kid had a point. We talked them up then treated them like kids. They thought that we didn’t have faith in them, then an opportunity comes along to prove themselves, and…well, you don’t need a be mind reader to see why they did it.”

 

“Which brings me to my next topic.” Batman entered the conversation, typing on his console, a hologram of a DNA helix appeared before the center of the table. “This is a DNA sample from Superman. And this…” a DNA helix that appeared largely similar, but with slightly different details. “…is a DNA sample taken from the Superboy.”

 

“Pretend some of us aren’t mega geniuses. What are we looking at here?” Hawkeye asked.

 

“The Kryptonian genome has been one of the biggest mysteries of the 21st century. I checked with Hank McCoy, and confirmed that no one’s been able to fully map it. Which, considering there’s only one living example, isn’t too surprising.” Stark explained, pointing at the display. “As you can see, they had to get more than a little creative, explaining the lack of flight and heat vision, but this is the closest anyone’s come to cracking it. It’s the same with the sample I took from X-23. I took blood and saliva samples, called in both Hank and Reed, and after we spent all night pouring over this-“

 

“Tony, the point?” Cap asked.

 

“The point is that these are nearly perfect clones. They’re in perfect health, with no signs of cellular degeneration at all.” He stated, getting Spider-Man’s eyes widened. “For those of you who don’t know, the only man who’s come close to perfecting human cloning was a man named Miles Warren, aka the Jackal.” He explained, an image of a of what used to be a man, now furry green creature appeared above the table.

 

“Oof, he does not leave much to the imagination…” Mockingbird winced.

 

“Jackal…wait a minute, I remember this guy!” Flash exclaimed. “Didn’t he try cloning us or something?”

 

“Not us, me. Dude was obsessed with me and my girlfriend in college. Tried cloning me so many times I lost count.” Spider-Man explained. “The reason this is relevant is because his clones are the gold standard of cloning, but almost all of them had something in common: their cells were breaking down. The only one that wasn’t was a fluke. Warren’s dead, but if we have perfect Kryptonian and mutant clones…this is huge. What this means for the scientific community, for the world…”

 

“It means they’re getting smarter.” Batman stated, cutting off the wall crawler. “That is what I keep coming back to. Clones like this, that are this fully developed, should be at least ten or twenty years away. Yet Superboy was grown in just four months. They’re starting to find an edge.”

 

“So we find one, too.” Hawkeye suggested. “We do what we always do: we adapt. Joker attacks the Mount? We build a space station. Skrulls try to infiltrate us? We get security that scans us down to the molecular level. We just need to adapt, evolve, come at it from new angles.”

 

“And what happens when it’s not enough? What happens when we let something that we could’ve stopped grow into something that destroys us all?” Batman cut off. “I’d had my suspicions about CADMUS for a while now, always meant to investigate. But there was always something. Some big crisis that threatened the fate of the world, and CADMUS was allowed to get up to god knows what. The fact is simple: we can’t be everywhere at once.”

 

“But the kids weren’t content to let it slide.” Aquaman spoke. “When we told them to stay put, instead of just sitting and brooding, they went and checked things out.”

 

“And we’re not going to be able to stop them if they decide to do it again.” Iron Man responded. “That Superboy said it loud and proud: they clearly don’t need our permission to do what they did last night.”

 

“And if you tell a teenager  _ NOT _ to do something, that makes them want to do it even more.” Spider-Man pointed out. “So, let me sum it up: we’ve got bad guys getting smarter, and a bunch of super teenagers who’re done sitting at the kids table. The question is: what are we going to do about it?”

 

“…I may have a suggestion.” Batman got their attention. “We have two problems, but only one solution.” He suggested, the table was silent as they all came understood what he meant.

 

**Happy Harbor, July 7, 1527 EDT**

 

“So uh, where are we?” Carter asked,now sported a black shirt underneath a light grey hoodie, matching his jeans and shoes, and a dark beanie upon his head , looking  around a large cave filled with advanced technology. He, Jason, Kaldur, and Nolan were all gathered together, watching as various Leaguers moved heavy equipment around.

 

“Kids, welcome to Mount Justice.” Iron Man greeted. “Back when we first started, we used this place as our first headquarters. It...didn’t work out, but I decided to keep it. All this time, I thought it was nostalgia, but now, I think it was for a purpose.”

 

“And that is?” Nolan asked, now dressed in a simple red shirt and jeans.

 

“In a minute. Do you know when the others will get here?” Iron Man asked.

 

“Just texted Francis. Said he should be here soon.” As soon as Nolan said that, the Zeta Tubes began humming to life.

 

**“Recognize: Trickshot, B-02; Kid Flash, B-06; Superboy, B-09; X-23, B-10.”** The computer announced, and a flash of light deposited the others. Francis was now dressed in a light purple t-shirt and jeans, while Superboy was dressed in a black Superman t-shirt and jeans.   Laura now wore a leather military jacket with red accents on the upper arms of the jacket with black pants, a red tank top shirt underneath her jacket, and black combat boots.

 

“Hey guys.” Jason greeted, and raised an eyebrow at Superboy’s choice in attire. “That’s an...interesting choice in clothes.”

 

“Hey, it’s what he wanted. Believe me, I tried. I think we just cleaned the Central City mall out of all their Superman shirts…” Wally responded, while Nolan looked over Laura.

 

“That’s an...awful lot of black. You do know it’s July, right?”

 

“Hey, we tried, man. She had her heart set on these the moment she saw ‘em.” Francis responded. “Jesus, just how many secret bases do you guys have?”

 

“If I told you, then I’d have to kill you.” Tony joked as Batman entered the area, flanked by the mentors, Red Tornado, and Black Canary.

 

“Thank you all for coming. As I understand it, you eight are all bound and determined to remain on the path you began at Cadmus, correct?” Batman  asked, and the teens all exchanged a glance.

  
“Well, yeah. If you aren’t willing to accept that we’re ready, we’ll just have to prove it to you.” Jason stated.

 

“That’s what we figured. Since you’re all bound and determined to fight the good fight like this, you’ll do it on League terms.” Batman said, and their eyes all widened.

 

“Whoa, are you saying...we’re in the League?” Wally asked.

 

“No. This is...something else.” Batman answered. “The world has changed since we first started the League. Our enemies are too numerous to count, and they’re only becoming more ruthless, more intelligent. Frankly, we’re overwhelmed, and can’t afford to be everywhere at once.”

 

“Which is where the nine of you come in.” Iron Man piped up. “It’ll be up to you to investigate and handle anything we’re not able to deal with before it becomes something we HAVE to deal with.”

 

“So like, missions?” Francis asked.

 

“COVERT missions. But yes, missions.” Hawkeye responded. “Think you’re up for it?”

 

“You mean like top secret, Mission Impossible stuff?” Wally asked.

 

“More or less.” Flash answered. “We’ll still handle big stuff, like Galactus or whatever. Why do you think we wear these big targets on our chests?”

 

“Point is, we need someone who can handle this stuff on the sly. Put a stop to stuff before they try to blot out the sun or whatever.” Spider-Man explained.

 

“You asked for an opportunity to prove yourselves. Well...this is it.” Aquaman stated, and everyone smiled.

 

“I think I speak for all of us when I say...hell yeah!” Carter exclaimed, when something clicked in Kaldur’s head.

 

“Wait, you said nine. There are only eight of us.”

 

“Right, sorry. Saw her enter and got ahead of myself.” Iron Man said, and gestured to a point in the room. They all turned to see Martian Manhunter standing with a greenskinned teenage girl with red hair, amber eyes, and freckles, that wore a short sleeved white top with a red X on it, as well as a blue skirt, blue cape, and blue boots/gloves.

 

“Hello, children. I would like to introduce you all to my niece, M’gann M’orzz. Though for field purposes, she’d prefer it if you called her ‘Miss Martian.’” Manhunter introduced, and M’gann waved.

 

“Uh, hello.” She greeted, and Jason leaned over to Nolan.

 

“Since when does he have a niece?” He whispered.

 

“I asked him about his family once, and he said he’s got like...12 brothers and sisters on Mars or something.” Nolan answered, and was about to ask Francis what he thought, when he noticed Francis was staring. He was bug eyed, slack jawed, genuinely speechless until Nolan elbowed him. “Dude! You’re staring!” He whispered, and Francis blinked as his brain rebooted.

 

“Huhwah?” Was all Francis could think to say, until he noticed M’gann make eye contact. It was just for a second, but Francis felt all...warm and fuzzy for a moment. “Uh...hi. I’m uh...I’m Francis.” He greeted, and M’gann smiled.

 

“I’m M’gann. It’s...it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She greeted, and her white shirt morphed into a purple one, similar to Francis’s. “I...like your shirt.”

 

“Uh, thanks. It...it looks good on you.” He responded, and she smiled.

 

“What is happening…” Nolan muttered to himself, but before Francis and M’gann could resume their...whatever was happening, Wally inserted himself between them.

 

“Well hello, beautiful. The name’s Wally. You already met Francis. Everyone else is Laura, Nolan, Carter, Kaldur, Jason, and...well, I guess we’re calling him Superboy for now.” He said, and M’gann smiled.

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” She greeted.

 

“Aqualad, Superboy, X-23, and MIss Martian will live here full time. Red Tornado has agreed to live here and be your caretaker. Black Canary and Hawkeye have agreed to be your combat trainers. You will be deployed on missions by myself and Captain America.” Batman explained, and Kaldur looked around. This...this is what they had been waiting for. The chance to prove themselves. To show them all that they were ready, that they were more than just kids and sidekicks.

 

“Today is the day.”

 

**Project CADMUS**

 

In the former Doctor Desmond’s office, Guardian was having a meeting with Dubbilex and Doctor Spence. “I’ve managed to get SHIELD off our backs. As far as they’re concerned, what went on here stopped with Desmond, and frankly, I’m inclined to agree. The board has placed me in charge, and from here on out, we’re going to be a kinder, more gentler place. That means no more cloning, no more secret breeding projects, and no more G-Gnomes controlling our wills. Understand?” Guardian instructed, and Dubbilex nodded. 

 

“Of course, my brother.” Dubbilex said. Unbeknownst to all of them, the Board of Directors were observing them, communicating through their private channels from their bases around the world.

 

“ _ Is leaving Guardian in charge of Cadmus truly the best course of action? Especially without G-Gnome control?”  _ The female voice asked.

 

“ _ We have no other choice. Rogers trusts Guardian enough to leave Cadmus in his hands and not ask anymore questions. Don’t worry. We have more...subtle means of control to ensure his compliance.”  _ The German accented voice said.

 

_ “For all his failings, Desmond served as an adequate scapegoat. The Blockbuster formula altered his mind and body to the point where he doesn’t even know his own name. As far as the League is concerned, Cadmus went down with him.”  _ A voice with a tone that conveyed extreme arrogance said.

 

“ _ What concerns me is the children.”  _ Another voice said, and an image of The Team appeared on screen. “ _ Was their presence here a simple coincidence, or is the League using them to do their dirty work now?” _

 

_ “Regardless, this development does not bode well for our future plans. The loss of the weapons-” _

  
_ “Regrettable, but even the temporary loss of them may present opportunities. Besides, we have already implanted more subtle means of control.”  _ A voice that commanded wisdom stated. “ _ Fear not. In time, all shall see The Light.” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you like this, please leave a review!

**Author's Note:**

> A few answers to questions I know y'all will ask: yes, our Robin is Jason Todd. Yes, we will go into our OC's histories in due time. No, this isn't the Peter Parker from the recent game, we just all like the suit. Until next time, True Believers. Excelsior.


End file.
